Pushed back a day to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday, Del City council members had little to discuss in their second meeting of the year.
The council voted to approve the purchase of a crane for the fleet maintenance service truck, and took a brief recess to view the fire department’s new brush pumper fire trucks.
The only real discussion of the night came with public input. Two men involved with an Assembly of God church building, located on the corner of SE 15 Street and Bryant, came forward to ask about a recent condemnation notice.
City Manager Mark Edwards reassured them that the bulldozers are not warming up to tear the building down. He said that the notice was in attempt to get a conversation started with the building owner who has not responded to numerous letters.
The building in question seems to be in a dangerous state of decay from exterior inspection only, city officials say. It has sat unused for many years boarded up, the roof is sagging, windows are broken and there is wall damage from when it was hit by a car.
The city could not make any action on this because it was not an agenda item, yet they said they would begin communication and put it on the agenda when it was needed.
Edward Mockabee, one of the residents opposed to a controversial rezoning discussed at the council’s last meeting, came to thank the council for their actions. He also asked why the zoning of his property had not been fixed yet.
Mockabee’s property, at one point, was rezoned commercial despite it being a residential property and there was no notification or attempt to enforce that change. The council explained that they cannot change any zoning without a formal citizen request and that he would need to fill out the correct documents to get the process started.