SCOTT CITY RESOLVES HOUSE NUMBERING TIFF

SCOTT CITY -- The Scott City Council and members of a house renumbering committee finally reached an agreement Monday on a plan to renumber houses in the town.

The plan has been repeatedly put "on hold" by the council. But at their regular meeting Monday, members approved a final plan, which includes about 200 address changes city-wide.

Members of the committee said they were satisfied with the plan, but acknowledged that it was their recommendation to renumber nearly every house in the town. Members of the council did not agree with the massive changes, but did agree that about 200 addresses should be changed. That figure includes about 70 address changes in the town's Country Club subdivision.

Mayor Shirley Young said after the meeting that council and committee members realized an agreement on the plan was long overdue.

Young said letters would be sent as soon as possible to the approximately 200 residents whose addresses are to be changed.

The committee's chairman, Ron Oller, who is also a councilman, urged the council to consider changing house numbers in the city's Cloverdale subdivision. No address changes in Cloverdale were included in the final plan.

Oller said the committee had determined the subdivision is numbered incorrectly throughout, and should be corrected to coincide with the rest of the town.

"We feel like Cloverdale will have to be dealt with at some point," he said.

In other business, the council gave final approval to handing over property rights for a portion of city land to former mayor and city councilma Alvie Modglin.

The property includes a portion of Monroe Street and surrounding land, in all a 55-foot by 180-foot tract. Modglin owns a building situated on the land and asked the council last month to allow him to purchase the land so that he could sell the building.

At that time, council members agreed to turn the property over to Modglin through a quit claim deed if he paid for the legal fees involved.

Young said twice during Monday's meeting she was opposed to the transfer. She said it "would have been more prudent" for the council to agree to lease the property to Modglin instead of turning over property rights. Young was not present at the council's previous meeting, during which the transfer was initially approved.

The mayor presented a letter, written by Ralph Hayes, a resident of the town and former police chief, in which Hayes offered to pay the city $3,000 for the land.

But Councilman John Rogers urged the council not to accept the offer, saying Hayes and Modglin were long-time rivals.

"What we're going to do here is get in between a feud that's been brewing between two men for years," Rogers said.

Modglin challenged the council to "go ahead and accept Hayes' offer.

"If it was anybody else, he wouldn't even be interested in" the property, Modglin said.

But Councilman Jerry Cummins said the council could not "sell" the property to Hayes because the deed for the property has never been found. The property was donated to the city in the early 1900s, said City Clerk Nona Walls.

"How can we sell something if we don't know if we own it or not?" Cummins said.

Council member Brenda Moyers was the only council member to vote against turning over the property to Modglin.