CRESTON — At its monthly meeting Tuesday, the Creston Village Board of Trustees discussed recent progress that's been seen on properties in disrepair in the village.

The village has done inspection, citation and legal work in recent months and years to bring certain properties in disrepair up to code or to demolition.

The village came into ownership of one home at 308 E. North St. and unanimously approved asbestos removal work on it Tuesday to pave the way for demolition in the near future.

Another home in disrepair at 103 E. South St. has been demolished by a new owner. The village originally started the process with six homes in disrepair it wanted to get cleaned up.

Another property has been purchased as well after the village and its attorneys struggled to find the previous owners to serve with litigation papers. Village Attorney Russell Crull said the work will now be easier with the new owner.

"These are three properties that we've been hollering about and it's saving us money because we're not having to spend money on these places," Village President Tom Byro said.

A fourth property at 123 W. North St. has reverted to ownership by a bank which is looking to get it up to code to sell it to a buyer that wants to fix it up. The village plans to look further into the potential buyer's construction background and possibly a development agreement to ensure the home gets into good condition.

Crull said the recent progress on the properties was seen due to them starting to near a judge's order for forced demolition.

"These people know that we're not going to sit back and look at these places," Byro said. "Let's get them fixed up."

Farm lease

The board unanimously approved a bid from Petry Farms to farm 143 acres of Creston's land for the next three years at $325 per acre, making a total of $46,995 per year. Petry Farms has farmed the land in recent years. Only one bid was received by the village for the land.

The village has plans to have additional farmland to lease out in the future due to acquiring about 80 acres of land from the Rochelle Landfill in a recent agreement. That land will remain in a lease carried out by the landfill for another year before the lease work comes under the village's control.

Well

Village Engineer Kevin Bunge said Tuesday that maintenance on Creston's Well 3 has been completed and work went smoothly.

The well rehabilitation project was done because Well 3 hadn't been pulled for maintenance since it was installed in 1980.

Bunge said a final report on the well project will be brought to the board at next month's meeting and the total cost came in at $5,000 less than the estimate. It included a new motor and check valve for Well 3.

Insurance

The board unanimously approved the renewal of the village's insurance. Byro said increases in cost were seen due to paying for more workman's compensation insurance for its maintenance employee who is working more hours, additional insurance being taken out on the village's aging water tower, and having to insure the property that the village assumed ownership of for demolition. The water tower insurance was upped to $1 million. The village's total insurance cost saw an increase of about $1,000 since last year.