(Above) Veteran Carl Abbott addresses the Danville City Council Public Works Committee.
An interesting moment occurred early in the Tuesday evening Danville City Council Public Works Committee meeting. Carl Abbott is a Veteran living at 936 North Gilbert, in the area affected by the approved Kirchner Building Services move into the old Goodwill building at Gilbert and Fairchild. Abbott’s a Springfield native, who settled into the Danville area after his military career. Abbott will now eventually have to move, and says he is very stressed because he is not sure he can afford all the expenses that come with a move. The city plans to acquire several properties and transfer them to Kirchner, giving them the room they need for all of their operations. Abbott says, although the city says all landlords were notified, with the understanding to inform their tenants, there seems to have been an unintentional communications gap somewhere.
AUDIO: I don’t see where it would necessarily be the landlords’ thing. The city should be reaching to all stakeholders, is now I see it. And I don’t believe that they gave the landlords any specific direction to do so, or even if they could. But this is my home, this is my chosen home. I’ve met some great people in Danville. This is where I’m at.
Danville City Engineer Sam Cole (middle) says the city will be reaching out to residents needing to relocate for the Kirchner project to determine their individual needs.
Abbott was advised by the mayor and committee members to check with organizations like the VA and American Legion for Veterans assistance. But Danville City Engineer Sam Cole says the city does plan on helping those who will have to move, whatever their individual needs happen to be.
AUDIO: We reach out to the renters; the tenants in this scenario. We provide relocation assistance for them. We work with them to make sure their relocation costs are covered, and that this public improvement doesn’t happen at their expense. Each tenant has a little bit different scenario. There are ones where they have multiple children or they might be handicapped. The arrangements look different in most cases, but we typically come up with a custom plan and work with them directly, to make sure that their needs and their concerns are addressed.
Cole says there is some time here, as the city does not plan to have all the properties acquired and turned over to Kirchner until the end of 2023.
