A downtown property owner is threatening legal action against the City of Indianola after the city acted to remove the awning attached to 101 and 103 Main Street on Oct. 18.
Rev. Phillip McGee, representing the Sunflower County Ministerial Alliance Counseling Service Inc., went before the Indianola Board of Aldermen on Monday night in what was supposed to be an update on redevelopment plans for the property.
Instead, McGee handed the board a “Notice of Claim” outlining damages and a demand for a “sum that has not yet been determined.”
City Attorney Gary Austin indicated the document had little legal footing, since it was not signed by an attorney, but rather McGee himself, who is not a lawyer.
McGee claims that the city’s decision to remove the awnings on Oct. 18 has hindered the original redevelopment plans for the properties.
“My report is that the person who was in charge with planning could not proceed with this plan because of the action that was taken by the city on the 18th (October),” McGee told the board.
During the board’s June 11 meeting this year, the aldermen voted unanimously to adjudicate the 101 and 103 Main Street properties.
At that time, only one belonged to the Ministerial Alliance, while the other was in the possession of Guaranty Bank.
On Sept. 7, the Ministerial Alliance gained possession of the second property and retained Brown & Associates to help with a redevelopment plan for the overall property.
In early October, the city granted the organization a 90-day stay on adjudication, with the conditions that the organization work with City Inspector Elvis Pernell and secure the buildings ahead of the Oct. 19 Gentry homecoming parade.
On the morning of Oct. 18, city workers arrived before 8 a.m. in order to remove the awnings.
McGee, along with attorney Alsee McDaniel, told the board on Monday that his organization had communication with Pernell prior to 4 p.m. on Oct. 17, and it was explained to the city inspector that plans were underway to “secure” the awnings instead of removing them.
Although McDaniel said he communicated with Pernell about this matter – due to the emergency situation – he insisted on Monday that he was not the Ministerial Alliance’s legal representative and would not address the Notice of Claim that had been handed to the board.
Pernell confirmed to the board this week that conversation happened, but that he had made it clear that was not a viable option, since the awnings were a safety hazard and could not be properly secured.
“It was my discussion with him that that was not a viable idea,” Pernell said.
Public Works Director Jimmy Strong also spoke during the exchange, explaining that the awnings came down with one push, indicating there was no way to secure them prior to the parade.
“The awnings were gone,” Strong said. “As a matter of fact, it was a touch. It was like when you plan to blow up a big building and you put dynamite throughout. That’s the way the awning went down. There would have been no way to put anything under it.”
At issue now is whether the removal of the awning actually hindered redevelopment plans.
Mayor Steve Rosenthal informed McGee that the awning was an addition made to the buildings in the 1970s and therefore had no bearing on the property’s historical significance.
“The conditions have been hampered because of the action the board took,” McGee said.
“Absolutely not,” Rosenthal responded.
The meeting got more contentious when Alderman Darrell Simpson raised his hand to be recognized while McGee was still speaking.
“Don’t do that,” McGee shouted at Simpson.
“I’m raising my hand sir. That’s all I’m doing,” Simpson said back.
“I don’t care about your hand being raised,” McGee responded.
McGee went on to insist the damage to the awnings hindered the first set of plans, which he did not have to show the board.
“Unfortunately, the awning did not meet the historic conditions required,” Rosenthal said. “It had to be removed because it does not present part of the original structure.”
During the first few minutes of McGee’s time with the board, he told Rosenthal that he had a local contractor working on the buildings.
When pressed to give the name of the contractor a half hour later, McGee said “Brown & Associates has that information. They are in charge of that planning. I have no idea.”
McGee also said he was “not at liberty” to disclose his organization’s legal representative.
Rosenthal said that both the Ministerial Alliance’s attorney and contractor should have been working hand-in-hand with Pernell throughout the previous 30 days.
Pernell said that he had not had any such communication, outside of talking to McDaniel about the awnings on Oct. 17.
Alderman Marvin Elder suggested everyone involved take a breather and iron out the situation before making any rash decisions.
“We don’t have to be so aggressive to overreach ourselves inside this 90 days,” Elder said. “All of us still have to live together after this 90 days.”
Alderman Gary Fratesi asked McGee to provide a letter from his contractor stating that he was indeed working on plans for the property.
Alderman Sam Brock said the city should hold McGee to 90 days and no more.
“Mr. Mayor, let’s go on and kill this stuff in a nutshell,” Brock said. “Mr. Pernell should get the legal documents on whatever has been changed. I suggest that if nothing has been changed in those 90 days, that we have just hung around too long.
We expect a full set of plans in 90 days and expect you to be rolling. If not, we take the nails out and keep moving.”
