Several topics were addressed during Thursday’s long, wide-ranging Oil City Council meeting, including potentially reserving some parking on the North Side for businesses.
City manager Mark Schroyer noted that the former Telereach building on Seneca Street is up for sale after the business recently packed up and left town. A potential buyer has asked that six parking spots on Elm Street be reserved for employees of the business that could be going into the building.
Kathy Bailey, the Oil City Main Street manager, said sale plans are moving forward and the buyer is working with a business that wants to occupy the building. She said the business would create jobs, have a retail component and be “an attraction.”
Parking in the city’s spots in that lot has been sporadic, he said.
Schroyer said another downtown business has also approached the city wanting reserved parking for its employees, and if both businesses were granted six spots each that would take up all the city’s spots in the lot.
Reserving the parking spots at about $10 a month per spot would also generate a small amount of additional revenue for the city, Schroyer said.
“Other businesses may complain because they are not getting their share of the pie, and that is a legitimate issue too,” Schroyer said.
Councilman Ron Gustafson noted that Telereach had asked for parking and the city had denied the request.
Schroyer said the Telereach employees parked on the street and complained about getting tickets, so Telereach asked that their employees not be ticketed but didn’t ask for reserved spots. This was before the multimodal hub was completed.
Schroyer said on philosophical grounds the city doesn’t have an obligation to provide parking to businesses but the city does have an obligation to provide parking for customers to businesses in the city.
He also noted it is in the city’s interest for the Telereach building not to sit empty, and he said this is the time to reevaluate parking by the multimodal hub due to the traffic pattern changes in that area following construction of the hub.
“If it furthers our plans, we should at least look into it,” Schroyer said.
Another point of discussion during Thursday’s meeting was a request from the city to buy two very blighted houses at the costs of $85 for one house and $1 for the other, with demolition to be funded by the county land bank.
Yvonne Greene, the city’s code enforcement officer, said a house at 309 Washington Ave. has holes in the roof, is on the verge of collapse and is generally a danger and a nuisance. It is a repository property that has been vacant for 31 years.
The second property is a house at 295 Hasson Ave. that a tree fell on in November 2020 during a wind storm, Greene said.
She said the house, particularly the second floor and attic, were extensively damaged and the homeowner, who didn’t have insurance and was displaced, doesn’t have the means to tear it down.
She added that he is willing to give the city the house for $1.
Schroyer said he is “a little leery” of the city taking on more blighted properties, and he is concerned it is setting a precedent.
“The only caveat is that the land bank is bankrolling the demolition,” he said.
Another issue, Schroyer noted, is that the city then owns and has to maintain lots after the houses are demolished.
“The city might be paying $500 to $1,000 to maintain and bring to sale a lot worth $50,” Schroyer said.
To sell the lots, they must be advertised and put up for competitive bid, solicitor Bob Varsek said.
Schroyer said the problem with putting the vacant lots up for bid, in addition to the expense, is that out-of-state bidders buy them up without seeing them and then don’t do anything with them.
Gustafson agreed that the city is accumulating too many properties.
“I’m not opposed to doing it, I’m opposed to setting a precedent that people give their bad properties to the city,” Gustafson said.
Following the discussion, council approved purchasing the two houses for demolition.
In another matter, Michelle Hoovler, the city’s finance officer, gave an end-of-the-year summary of Oil City’s finances for 2021.
She said the city ended the year in the black.
The city hit a 100% real estate tax collection rate in 2021, Hoovler said, adding that it has been a long time since that has happened.
Hoovler also said the city paid off the street sweeper early, finished projects on Halyday and Main streets and bought updated Tasers for the police department.
On another note, Schroyer commended city staff for all their hard work over the last few weeks with “the weather, answering calls and overtime.”
He also said that with how high the river got there were some concerns at the North Side pump station that would need to be addressed in the future.
In other business, the city heard a number of ideas regarding improving the appearance of the city and requests to approve several summer events.
Bob Cross, representing the Oil City Rotary Club, asked for and received council’s blessing and feedback on the club’s idea to light up the Oil City sign on Hogback Hill and put a large American flag on the water tank behind the sign.
Cross said the Rotary Club has funds for the project and is not asking the city for any money.
Jason Herman, the city’s water department director, said painting a flag on the tank could be considered. He added that the tank has been painted with a variety of designs in the past.
Gustafson said the reason the sign isn’t lit up is due to vandalism.
Bailey presented a proposal to council for new Christmas decor as well as wanting to formulate a plan to expand Christmas decorating to the South Side.
“The lights (in the stars put up on the bridges and street lights) were re-wired in 2014 and that has extended their life by seven years, but it is really time to replace them,” Bailey said.
She proposed replacing the stars with presidential snowflakes that would be mounted on the poles more or less the same way the stars are. She added that the city would save a significant amount of money if the snowflakes were purchased soon.
Council approved the design and purchase of the snowflakes.
The panel also approved requests to use city property for events such as Jolly July 3rd, FAM Jam, BridgeFest, Music on the Square concerts and a Boy Scout flag retirement ceremony.
