Downtown property owners seek city loans for property revamps

A little-used loan fund offered by the city of Monticello to downtown property owners has been in demand recently. 

Monticello City Administrator Russ Farnum told the Council last week that owners for two different properties -- Tom and Teri Keleher, who own 109 and 111 E. First St. and Ikon Properties, which owns 112 W. First St. 

The Kelehers intend to install new windows and tuckpoint the façade of their properties and remodel the Gingham Dog storefront, according to an application filed with the city. The tuckpointing has taken place already, and the Kelehers are waiting on estimates for the remaining project cost. 

Farnum said since the Keleher property is made of soft standstone, architectural structure is important. 

“There are currently water-damaged areas along the alley near the cornice, and some other deterioration that needs maintenance to preserve the structure,” Farnum said. 

Joel Robinson, owner of Ikon, said he intends to replace his building’s roof and tuckpoint the outside brick at an estimated cost of $24,000. Ikon’s building at the corner of West First Street and North Farley Street houses Salon La’Kay and three upper-floor apartments. 

The city’s revolving loan program offers five-year, no-interest loans to property owners in the downtown area to undertake projects that improve the downtown, Farnum said. 

The program is revolving, meaning that as the loan is paid back by the loanee, the money goes back into the account to be loaned out again. 

Farnum said the last record he could find of the program being utilized was in 2015. 

There is approximately $48,000 in the account now, and both the Kelehers and Ikon requested $25,000 apiece, meaning a $2,000 overage if both requests were approved in full. 

“Let’s say both loans are funded at the (combined) full $50k, we would take the last $2k out of the general fund and the first payments the loanees made would pay back the general fund.”

The Council tabled the Kelehers’ request, as they were not in attendance at the Sept. 2 meeting. 

The council then decided to approve Ikon’s request, but trimmed it to $24,000 as to not tap into the city’s general fund, assuming it would also approve the Kelehers’ request.

Other business

• The Council approved the hiring of Jake Coons as an on-call EMT. 

The Council approved two plat changes related to a proposed project at 848 Breckenridge Drive. Property owner Kevin Holtz sought to purchase a 15-foot strip of land at the back of his property from the Birch Court Apartments to facilitate the construction of a building. 

• The council approved a sewer credit of $104.48 for Fred Schuster, whose hose broke in July and caused him to receive an approximately 9,000-gallon water and sanitary sewer bill. Farnum’s request to the council said since the water was technically used, Schuster would not receive a credit for his water service bill, but since the water ran out over the ground, the sewer portion of the bill should be forgiven. The city can offer up to $1,500 in credits for sewer bills in the instance of a broken water line of a water-service malfunction that results in large water use, but when the water does not go down the sanitary sewer. 

• Set two public hearings for 6 p.m. Sept. 15. One is related to changes to the  city’s fence ordinance and the other includes changes to the city’s accessory dwelling ordinance, which the city is looking to augment to reflect new state law that now allows the use of accessory dwelling units of up to 1,000 on the same lot as a single-family home.