St. Catherine's owner cited for unsafe building

McCOOK, Neb. -- Officials appear concerned about foot traffic at the former St. Catherine's apartment building and have cited the property owner for maintaining an unsafe building.

Property owner Bev Smith was cited last month, the same week a Gazette article ran touting the Smith's renovation plans for the former hospital building turned apartment complex.

She is accused of maintaining an unsafe building in the municipality and permitting the building to remain in an unsafe condition or to be occupied while the building is in an unsafe condition, according to court documents. The case is scheduled for a hearing in Red Willow County Court at 10 a.m., on Tuesday, Nov. 24.

City Attorney Nate Mustion indicated Monday the city's concerned stems from third parties being allowed in the St. Catherine's building.

"The city Health Board has declared the St. Catherine's building a nuisance and unsafe property due to its deteriorated condition and health hazards posed by the deteriorated conditions.

The city does not want owners of these health boarded properties to be having third parties coming and going from them. It presents a health hazard," said Mustion.

Smith said Monday there is nothing unsafe about the building, "unless you go wandering off where you're not supposed to go," and added she was committed to resolving the issue with the city and doing whatever needed to be done to move past it.

What it will take to appease the Public Health Board and allow for the property's removal from a list of structures identified as a health and safety issue might be a little unclear, according to Bev's son and co-owner John Smith. He said the building was placed on the list shortly after city staff boarded windows of the lower level in 2013 but he is still uncertain what it would take to remove it.

Smith said he was told by city staff, just prior to purchasing the building at a Sheriff's sale last spring, it would be no problem getting the structure off the list but has had no success since. He said he was recently under the impression obtaining liability insurance would rectify the situation but has since been led to believe even that won't change the situation.