County may take control of Keokuk's Lincoln Ridge

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BY CHUCK VANDENBERG

PCC EDITOR

MONTROSE - Lee County may soon take ownership of a low-income housing unit in Keokuk.

At Tuesday's regular meeting of the Lee County Board of Supervisor's, Ryanne Wood, the county's Central Point of Coordination Administrator and supervisor Matt Pflug let the board know that there was a possibility that Great River Progressive Housing and Lincoln Ridge Limited Partnership, who currently have control of the facility, may be asking the county to step in.

The apartment's located at 2815 Lincoln Avenue lost their management group Keyway Management Group in December and Pflug, Wood and partnership board member Steve Celania have been overseeing day-to-day operations of at the facility.

"Since that time Matt and I have unilaterally managing that on a voluntary basis to try and keep things together knowing that neither one of us has sufficient time and energy to do it to the utmost ability that it should be done.

She said marketing has slipped due to time constraints and as the number of residents drop so does the financing of the property.

"Acting as property manager in light of not having a registered property manager at this time, we're investigating the possibility with your permission to transition that property under the umbrella of Lee County once again," Wood said.

She said she will be going to region board to inquire about financial assistance at that time so that financing of any sort not from rent, could be possibly come from regional sources.

She said there is an active request into the Iowa Finance Authority to discover what would be the repercussion to close down Great River Progressive Housing and Lincoln Ridge Limited Partnership with the intent of moving under the county government umbrella.

"Once we have that information back, we will have a better idea of what the pros and cons are for that," Wood said.

Pflug said there are 16 apartments and right now there are nine people renting at the facility.

He said the facility is paid off but it's a tax credit property and the partnerships have to guide by certain guidelines. He said no management firms have expressed an interest in running the facility. He said the partnership is looking at possibly using money from the county's Fund 10 which helps fund mental health programs.

"The problem is our check book is getting low and the building is getting old and it's taking more money to take care of things. Census is down and we're not seeing a batch of new people coming in and the situation is getting urgent," Pflug said.

Supervisor Ron Fedler asked if the county took over what department would it fall under. Wood said it would move back under the county's mental health department.

Supervisors recommended that the Wood get back with supervisor's as soon as she here's back from the state's finance authority as to what hoops need to be cleared before the county could consider taking ownership of the facility.

The apartments were built for those needing transitional and supportive care, but Wood said the apartments are open to the public but require low-income guidelines.

 

financial troubles, Keokuk, lee county, Lincoln Ridge apartments, low-income, ownership, Pen City Current

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