SCOTT CITY ALLEY ISSUE UNRESOLVED

SCOTT CITY -- Mayor Larry Forhan wants to protect the city's sewer easement. Kevin and Donna Jungers see no harm in using the city's closed alley for a backyard playground. Mr. and Mrs. David Daniels believe they are being discriminated against. Councilman Kenny Holder thinks the mayor may be out of line in his decision to keep the sewer line unobstructed.

The saga of an abandoned Scott City alley started in June, and is no closer to settlement now than it was when the Scott City Council voted to "close" the alley and install a sign to that effect.

"The alley had been abandoned a long time before that," said Forhan. "A small, brick wall had been built at one end of the alley, a tree is growing up in the middle of it, and it wasn't actually a road."

Forhan said the alley was officially closed during the June 15 council meeting.

"The alley wasn't being used; it hadn't been kept up, and we have a sewer line running through part of the alley," said the mayor. "The city didn't want to make improvments to the alley, and closed it so we wouldn't be liable," said Holder.

Following the closure of the alley, the Daniels appeared before the council to request permission to use the alley to reach the back of their house.

"We had been using the alley to haul our firewood to the back, and we had anticipated building a garage onto the back of the house," said Mrs. Daniels. "But, without an access to the back, our garage plans would have to be abandoned."

Meanwhile, the Jungers, who already had a trampoline in the alley, added more backyard equipment and parked a small trailer in the alley.

The Daniels said they were denied permission to use the alley, yet the Jungers could leave their equipment there.

"We can accept the fact that we were denied permission to use the alley," said Mrs. Daniels. "But, when they let someone else use it, we're being discriminated against."

The Jungers have now been asked by letter to move their equipment.

"I instructed the city attorney, Frank Siebert, to send letters to anyone who was obstructing our sewer line," said Mayor Forhan. "As it happens, the Jungers are the only ones to do that."

"We're not going to move our playground equipment," said Mrs. Junger. "We have maintained the alley five years, and my uncle maintained it 12 years before that. We will go to court if we have to."

Holder said he thought the matter was settled during the most recent council meeting.

"We voted at the Nov. 2 council meeting not to write letters," said Holder. "I think the mayor has stepped out of bounds directing Siebert to write a letter when it wasn't approved by the council."

The mayor answered Holder's concern: "Three motions concerning the alley were presented during the recent council meeting. One of them was a motion to have Siebert to send a letter to all persons to remove any obstructions in the alley."

That would include the wall and the tree, but the motion failed 7-0.

A second motion was made to send letters to residents asking them to move any obstruction that had been placed there within the last year. That motion failed 4 to 3. A third motion, to repeal the June 15 closure motion and reopen the alley, also failed 4-3.

"I told the council at that time that I was going to direct the attorney to send a letter to anyone who was obstructing the sewer line," said Forhan. "This had nothing to do with the alley motions which had previously been submitted."

The Jungers are contending it is unfair to ask one person to remove something without asking others to move their obstructions, like the wall and tree.

"I agree," said Holder, a councilman in Ward 2. "If everything in the alley the wall and the tree is moved, that's different; but what's good for one is good for another.

"We have been given 10 days to move our stuff," said Mrs. Junger.

"We're sorry that two neighbors had to get the city involved in their squabble," said Forhan. "But again, I feel justified in protecting the city's sewer easement. We have an investment there."