One Way or Another, Days Numbered for Old Surplus Building

City Council passes resolution to appropriate funds to raze building in case owner fails

Armed with the approved appropriations, the City of Kenton is ready to begin demolition of the old Surplus Building in downtown Kenton.

City Law Director John Schwemer said that they have a quote of $204,000 from a contractor, and council passed a resolution this week to have the funds ready in case the owner of the property, David Rigdon, fails to begin the process on his own.

Schwemer noted that Rigdon has been notified and his timeframe to respond is short, “In the event that he does not have this by next week, the City would go ahead and pay and have the building razed, and then we would asses a lien on the property, but we wouldn’t stop there. We would have to seek judgement against him for the amount and seek collection through other properties, so that would be a separate lawsuit that I would file on behalf of the City to recoup our money.”

The City of Kenton and Rigdon reached an agreement in January of this year that gave Rigdon until May 1 to begin tearing down the nuisance property, but obviously that deadline has come and gone.

Schwemer said it’s important to have the building razed now while the downtown revitalization project is underway because once that is completed and new sidewalks are installed around the area, the cost to demolish the structures would rise considerably.