Oil City Council heard an update Thursday on the timeline for the security cameras at the West End bike trail and dealt with several other ongoing matters.
Police chief Dave Ragon said the city will be getting a proposal for the cameras “probably before Monday.”
City manager Mark Schroyer said the issue isn’t getting the cameras but installing the poles and electric lines that are required for the cameras to work.
The city might have the cameras in about two weeks, Schroyer said.
The cameras became a focus of discussion after the death of Oil City woman Suzette Nellis, an avid trail walker whose body was found near the trail in late March.
Oil City resident David Bosley is proceeding through the court system on a homicide charge in connection with Nellis’ death.
A GoFundMe account, organized by Nellis’ daughter, Amy Still, raised $17,650 before donations were turned off.
The money is going toward the purchase of the cameras as well as to create a “memorial spot with a positive message to spread kindness, like she did,” according to the GoFundMe account.
In other business at Thursday’s meeting, Schroyer announced that the status of the downtown IOOF building, commonly known as the Odd Fellows building and owned by businessman Milan Adamovsky of New Jersey, will be on the agenda at council’s July 27 meeting.
The IOOF building hasn’t been repaired more than three months after an April 1 storm took part of the roof off the building, causing damage to the nearby Seneca Court building.
Adamovsky was already facing code violations on four of the five buildings he owns in downtown Oil City, including the Odd Fellows, that are unrelated to the storm and which he has ignored for several months.
Following the storm, he was also cited for leaving unrepaired and in bad condition the damaged IOOF building.
The city code office has been monitoring activity at Adamovsky’s buildings to ascertain if there have been any improvements made. Council has discussed moving ahead with a nuisance designation if improvements aren’t made, Schroyer said.
In another property matter, Schroyer said he, mayor Bill Moon and city solicitor Bob Varsek have been finalizing the paperwork for the sale of the former Days Inn hotel, and “everything is moving ahead as previously reported.”
Council voted last month to move forward with the planned purchase of the former hotel property by the city and the Oil Region Alliance.
Council unanimously passed a motion to allow the partnership of the city and ORA to buy the property from Oil City Hospitality LLC, owned by the Shah family, for $499,000 plus closing costs.
The city and ORA are pursuing grants to pay for the demolition of the building. They view the project as an investment in the momentum of future improvements to the city and region.
The hotel has sat vacant since it closed in 2019 and in the intervening years has experienced several waterline breaks and break-ins.
Council approved a request Thursday from the Venango County Economic Development Authority for ownership of the small parking lot behind 100 Seneca to be transferred to the authority, which has spent the last several years working on renovating the former bank building downtown.
Council approved the request pending “negotiation of mutually acceptable terms” after several council members raised questions of public access to the parking lot after hours, on weekends and during festivals.
Moon abstained from the vote because he is on the economic authority board.
Council also approved a LERTA tax break for Pathways on upper Seneca Street.
Last month, council tabled the request for the LERTA break on the new building Pathways is planning to construct to get more information on the city’s LERTA ordinance.
And Bob Cross, a former city controller, was appointed to fill the imminent controller vacancy that was created when Michael Haney announced his resignation from the position last month.
Haney’s resignation takes effect July 24, and Cross will serve out the remainder of his four-term which expires in December 2025.
