Mayor Sakbun announces 27 blighted properties to be demolished this July

FARMERSBURG, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV)— Mayor Sakbun came to the station today to discuss future plans for the city with our very own Dana Winklepleck.

During the sit down, Mayor Sakbun was first asked about the initiative to get rid of the dilapidated buildings in our city and the plan to demolish them. The mayor stated that not only is it an eyesore but that is also a safety concern with the rash of fires in abandoned homes.

“We’re happy to announce this July we’ll be taking about 27 properties down. 85% of the properties we’ll be taking down through demolition are north of Wabash.” Said Mayor Sakbun.

Sakbun said that most of our vacant lots are moving toward the development phase and that we are seeing record numbers in the housing stock because of it. He says he hopes it brings in more families into the city by doing so.

The mayor also spoke on some other pressing topics like using opioid settlement money to hire another social worker for the police.

“Our law enforcement personnel over the last 20 years, as law enforcement has changed and adapted are faced with all kinds of situations. So what we have seen is that our current social worker, of 177 cases that he has right now, 54% have successfully moved onto the treatment phase.”

The mayor hopes to take individuals who aren’t committing violent crimes and use this as a way to give them the resources available to reintegrate them back into society rather than spend much more funds jailing them. One example brought up during the discussion was the idea that the program can be used to help someone with mental illness in a manner that doesn’t necessarily have to involve police. He said that most cases the current social worker deals with are mostly mental health, homelessness, or child driven cases.

The mayor finished off things by discussing that proactive efforts between his office and Duke Energy with early tree trimming did in fact cause less damage than large storms we’d had previously. He also discussed his recent trip to Washington D.C. and his meetings with members of our federal government to address the needs of the town. He cited Veteran affairs, infrastructure, EPA, and transportation as some of the main concerns. The discussion finished with talking on the new sidewalk initiative and the excitement on his sister’s inclusion into the Olympics. Check the video to see the entire conversation from when it aired.

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