Change of ownership announced at public hearing

An announcement at the beginning of a public hearing Thursday marks a major shift in efforts to repair a dangerous downtown building. The Willow Springs Board of Aldermen, acting as the Building Commission, called the public hearing after learning in February that the building’s owner, Main Street Willow Springs, LLC, had not yet secured funding for repairs. 

As previously reported by Howell County News, the Board of Aldermen voted unanimously at their December meeting to declare and placard the structure as a “dangerous building,” and set in motion a chain of events codified by city ordinances. From there, the nonprofit had 30 days to execute a contract and commence work to repair the building. “Commence work” is a term that can be broadly interpreted, but by February the group continued to struggle to obtain funding, and the aldermen set the matter for a public hearing.

The hearing took place Thursday, and began with an announcement from City Administrator Beverly Hicks that several Willow Springs entities had come to agreement earlier in the week to put together funding to achieve immediate repairs to the building. 

The Willow Springs Community Foundation will take possession and ownership of the building from Main Street Willow Springs, LLC and oversee the repairs. The parties have signed a Memorandum of Understanding, and the legal formalities were pending as of the hearing date.

Dean Aye, Director of the Willow Springs Community Foundation, says he is soliciting bids in addition to the one previously obtained by Main Street Willow Springs, and is shooting for a May 1 start date. 

“I’ll be transparent with every step I take, and I’ll be here every month to tell you about it,” Aye promised the aldermen. For particulars on the Foundation’s plans for the building, see page XXX. 

On behalf of Main Street Willow Springs, LLC, Jeff Conger addressed the aldermen. 

“[The agreement] in the best interest of the community and the building,” he said. "I would like it to be said -- we put about sixty-to-seventy thousand into the building…We’ve spent a lot of time and effort, but it probably is time to turn it over, not only for the safety of the building, but if we lose that building, we lose an eighth of our downtown. If anybody wants that, they’re just stupid in my opinion…It has been put out there that we were dragging our feet, but we never stopped trying.”

“We appreciate everything you guys have done,” offered Alderwoman Kim Rich. 

“It’s good people stepped up to get that fixed,” commented Alderman Phill Knott. 

“I think we all want to save the building,” Conger said. “We should all pray really hard that we can get a contractor in here soon.”

City Administrator suggested that the aldermen support the parties’ agreement. 

The aldermen voted to reconvene as the Building Commission to assess the Foundation’s progress after ninety days. That hearing will take place on June 15.