T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY At the last two city council meetings, downtown property owner Tom Deimerly has argued that he should not be responsible for repairing an adjacent sidewalk and threatened legal action to halt plans for a proposed pedestrian alleyway, pictured.

Two weeks after he first approached the city council regarding the responsibility for repairs on a crumbling sidewalk adjacent to his property on East Main Street, Tom Deimerly returned to the podium during Monday night’s meeting and reiterated his refusal to eat the cost himself during a discussion that lasted over a half hour and turned heated at times.

City Administrator Carol Webb noted that the council had agreed to work on a “mutually beneficial” agreement with Deimerly after the last meeting, but as of Monday evening, they had not made a deal. Deimerly also asked to address the council on concerns about the city’s plans to turn the alley east of his property on the 200 block of East Main Street — which is currently up for sale — into a pedestrian-only alleyway and, as he took the stage, said he wasn’t open to any of the options Webb had presented.

The reason he opposed the conversion of the alleyway, he said, were the double doors facing the alleyway that serve the entire building, and he felt that no developer in the world would want to impede delivery access.

“I don’t know why I need to be up here right now. I find it infuriating, if you haven’t figured that out,” he said. “If you think I’m pissed off, I am. I’m sorry, but I’m pissed.”

Deimerly also indicated that he would likely end up taking the city to court over the alley.

“I will end up suing the city as a taxpayer. So I’ll end up suing myself to get what I already have. Come on. Why am I up here?” he asked.

He went on to share history of his dealings with the city and reiterate his frustrations about the process and called Mayor Mike Ladehoff’s comment that he should have done his due diligence before purchasing the property in 2020 “insulting.”

Deimerly asked members of the council to put a stop to the alleyway plan as he felt it was impeding private businesses, which include Oliver Beene Designs, Underberg Chiropractic, Pure Releaf and 3rd Generation Upholstery, and warned that he knew “where bodies are buried” in regards to situations like the old hospital. He then returned to the topic of his offer to the city, which would include green space at the northeast intersection of North 2nd Avenue and East Main Street, but Webb did not feel that it would be mutually beneficial.

“At this point, we have a hydrant that nobody paid for. We have green space nobody wants, and we have a sidewalk we’re supposed to pay for, a sidewalk that services this entire area,” he said.

From there, Deimerly turned his ire toward the lack of attention to the parking lot across the street and construction of an archway as part of the downtown streetscape project given its $250,000 price tag. He urged the city to remove the arch from the project, fix the parking lot instead and accept the offer of green space along with the city putting up $20,000 in “seed money” for the Arts + Culture Alliance.

“Let’s do something we can all be proud of the day we cut the ribbon on Main Street. Otherwise, after this, a lot of people are gonna be looking east and seeing a giant archway and two crappy lots,” Deimerly said.

Councilor Sue Cahill told Deimerly she had expressed her support for fixing the sidewalk during the last meeting but sought clarification on a few points, including how many tenants use the aforementioned delivery doors — according to Deimerly, the number is three. Cahill expressed concern about the scope of his new proposal, which he said was much different from what had been discussed at the last meeting.

Fellow Councilor Jeff Schneider noted that the sidewalk in question is scheduled for replacement in the downtown master plan, albeit in Phase 8, and Deimerly asked for a written guarantee that he won’t have to replace it. He was told, however, that if a complaint comes in before then, he will be responsible. Schneider disagreed with Deimerly’s assessment of the archway, predicting that it would be a major draw to downtown, and Deimerly invited him to ask the tenants of his building what they think.

Councilor Mark Mitchell worried about “opening up a can of worms” and creating a slippery slope that will result in everyone in town wanting their sidewalk fixed at the city’s expense.

“You bought the property. Most people, when they buy a property, they see what it’s like before they buy it. So evidently you must have been satisfied,” Mitchell said.

Deimerly replied that he bought it with the intent of working with the city through a public-private partnership. Mayor Mike Ladehoff then asked if councilors had any desire to accept Deimerly’s offer as written, and none of them were.

Webb sought council direction on where the project goes next, and Councilor Melisa Fonseca then motioned to leave the pedestrian alleyway in place as planned and leave the sidewalk repair in Phase 8 of the downtown project.

“Just so you understand, we will not pay for that sidewalk, and if you do replace it and you special assess it to us, we don’t have to mow. We don’t have to pay taxes, and we’re pretty upset,” Deimerly said.

Fonseca’s motion passed by a 4-3 vote with Councilors Nichols, Cahill and Gary Thompson opposed.

——

Contact Robert Maharry at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.