The owner of a historic brick building at the stoplight in Crothersville has less than 60 days to make repairs to the structure.
Earlier this year the Town of Crothersville’s Safety Board recommended that the town council cite Nathan Ray of Seymour and Environmental Awareness Reached Through Helping Hands (EARTHH) for not making renovations to the structure to make it secure.
After notifying the owner of the building’s deficiencies and gaining no response, the town, through their attorney Jeff Lorenzo, asked the court to intervene.
In granting the injunction, Jackson Circuit Court Judge Richard Poynter agreed with the town and ordered Ray and EARTHH to:
- Make the building weather tight including repair or boarding up windows and any major leaks to the roof be address,
- Gutters to be repaired or installed to ensure proper drainage of rain and snow,
- The canopy located over the front of the building on East Howard Street shall be removed,
- Loose and broken bricks are to be removed and repaired with appropriate tuckpointing completed.
Judge Poynter gave Ray 30 days from the date of the injunction on Nov. 18 to complete the court ordered work.
Poynter also ordered the iron structural columns on the front of the building to be either removed or rebuilt with appropriate structural support constructed within 60 days of his order.
The two-story brick building was originally built in the late 1800’s as the Odd Fellows Lodge Hall and the lower floors have served the community as a pharmacy, library, barber shop and a variety o f other retail establishments over the years.
On October 17 of this year the property was offered for sale at the county delinquent tax sale but the property but the minimum bid of $5,276 was not made.