City takes possession of Humphrey building

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BY CHUCK VANDENBERG
PCC EDITOR

FORT MADISON - A district judge has turned ownership of the Humphrey building in downtown Fort Madison over to the City of Fort Madison.

At a hearing on Friday in North Lee County Court, District 8B Judge John Wright ruled to convey ownership of the building at 732 Avenue G to the city after close to a year of hearings surrounding the poor condition of the structure.

According to Mayor Matt Mohrfeld, the city will now be looking to finish up environmental studies of the building which are currently underway to determine levels of contaminants including asbestos and lead clean up that may be required.

He said the city is working with a developer at this time to repurpose the building, but negotiations are on hold while Impact7G out of Johnston, Iowa completes the environmental work.

Courts ruled last summer that the building be vacated due to dangerous conditions. Then in November, the city filed a motion to assume ownership of the building to help secure it and then prepare it for future development after years of owner Bryan J. Humphrey failing to bring the building up to acceptable standards.

In 2021, the property was valued at just under $150,000.

In September of 2020, District Judge Michael Schilling issued a compliance order to Humphrey to bring the building up to city code and make necessary repairs to shore up the exterior wall structures.

According to city officials no compliance or communication with Humphrey was received from the time of that order until his death in February of 2021.

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