HAMILTON, ILL. -- It's been over eight months ago that fire ripped through two buildings along Broadway Street in Hamilton.
And since that time the city has been trying to get the debris removed.
People who drive up and down Broadway Street can't help but notice the debris pile that's right next to a beauty shop and barber shop. One of the pieces of property is starting to have the debris removed, but as for the second piece of property. That's a whole other story.
"It's very nice to have some progress, we started our legal process months ago, and we're finally getting to a point where we can do something as a city and Mr. Froman has been working with us and he has started his cleanup process. We just want to get this eyesore taken care of and we can get back some normalcy back up on Broadway," Robb Bell, the Hamilton Illinois Police Chief said.
Veldon Gray, is the owner of the second piece of property that was destroyed by the fire. But he lives in Oklahoma and Bell said the city hasn't heard from him since late January.
"Mr Gray isn't talking to us, we've filed papers in the court system and he lives in Oklahoma. We have served papers on him and we're waiting on court orders now, to order the city to take possession and put a lien on the property so we can start the cleanup and the city would have to pay that bill. But in the long run, I think it's going to be well worth the time to get it cleaned up," Bell said.
When we spoke to Hamilton Mayor Steve Woodruff about the issue, he said that since his building was damaged by the fire, he couldn't comment because of the possibility of legal action.
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