Jasper County supports city’s petition demanding demo of downtown building

Jasper County supports the City of Newton and its efforts to petition the courts over the demolition of a downtown building damaged by the 2020 derecho.

Supervisor Brandon Talsma said he had asked Randy Ervin, a member of the Newton City Council, to speak with the board about the city’s petition during the Sept. 9 meeting. Talsma said the county has invested a lot of money into its facilities and to keeping the courthouse looking nice.

“You look right out that corner and see what the City of Newton has been fighting for quite some time,” he said. “I saw the article (Newton News) did and asked Randy … if he would like to come and do a short presentation or talk about it real quick and if he would like us to add our signatures or a letter of support.”

Earlier this month, city officials encouraged citizens to sign a petition requesting the courts uphold a settlement agreement established two years ago with Chedester Properties, LLC, which owns the building. The agreement demanded the owner demolish the building within a certain timeframe.

However, the building at 209 W. Second St. N. still stands after being heavily damaged by the derecho in August 2020.

According to a copy of the petition, it states the settlement agreement between the city and Chedester Properties, owned by Jeremy Chedester, it states that a settlement agreement was signed on Oct. 2, 2023. The petition states Chedester agreed to demolish the building at his expense no later than Feb. 2, 2024.

The petition requests courts order Chedester to demolish the building by Nov. 1. Ervin said there was a lot of disinformation saying council is not doing anything about the building and that they could have torn it down. Ervin said the property owner acknowledged he would demolish the building but has not done so.

“So there’s a lot of misconceptions that it’s because of the people sitting up here, and it’s not,” Ervin said at the past city council meeting. “So what we need is we need people to sign petitions like this that we can present to the court or have our attorneys present to the court and say, look, the City of Newton is tired of this.”

At the supervisors meeting, Ervin said the city intends on taking the petitions and a letter of support from the Jasper County Board of Supervisors to the judge at the next court hearing, forcing the property owner to demolish the building once and for all. Ervin also asked the supervisors to sign the petition.

Supervisor Thad Nearmyer informed the board he had already signed the petition. Supervisor Doug Cupples said it was hard to believe the proceedings have taken this long. Talsma said the community development department deals with incidents like this all the time with illegal junkyards.

“It’s just extension after extension after extension,” Talsma said. “That’s why I asked. If we could add a letter of support behind this and try to get more weight behind the city to get this property dealt with, I think I don’t have a problem with it … I knew they were having issues but I didn’t know it was this bad.”

ANOTHER ONLINE PETITION HAS ALSO GAINED TRACTION

Newton News previously reported that an online petition different from the city’s had already circulated online prior to the council meeting. The petition was created by the 2020 Derecho Monument Facebook page, which makes humorous posts about the building and its place in the community.

The online petition states the city government “failed to take any meaningful action to force demolition of the ‘dangerous and infested’ structure.” It also claims the city could have taken ownership of the building at any point in the lawsuit under state law but instead blamed they were at the mercy of the courts.

“This is simply not true,” the unknown petitioner said. “The truth is that the city doesn’t want to incur the cost of demolishing this structure, and is now grasping at straws over four years into a lawsuit that (as of Aug. 28, 2025) does not even have a future court date set. It’s time for a different approach!”

Instead of requesting the court to order Chedester to demolish the property, the signers of the online petition indicate they will not vote to elect or re-elect any number of city council members who were in office in August 2020 unless demolition of the building begins before Oct. 1, 2025.

PAST REPORTING OF THE CHEDESTER PROPERTY

Others have inquired about the demolition in the past, and a local business owner even approached the council worried about the safety of nearby buildings. In April 2024, Kelly Koenen was holding back tears when she told council how worried she was about the building she owns being next door to a property which sustained damage from the derecho.

The owner’s failure to repair the building is in large part why the city sought legal recourse on behalf of citizens. Koenen Chiropractic operates at 200 N. Second Ave. W. in downtown Newton. Dr. Jay Koenen, Kelly’s husband, has been offering chiropractic care there for the past 25 years.

Kelly Koenen this past spring expressed her disappointment in what she affirmed was a lack of communication about the demolition.

“None of us have asked for this,” Kelly Koenen said during the public participation portion at a past city council meeting. “Not you guys and certainly not us. So we just want to work together to get this resolved. It has been a thorn in this community long enough.”

Matthew Brick, the city’s attorney, informed council members of the settlement agreement back in October 2023, saying the building must be dealt with as soon as humanly possible. He also explained that the pandemic and the death of one of the defendants have delayed the process further.

Still, Brick has defended the wait because in the end it is saving citizens of Newton from paying for the demolition.

“The legal fees and the staff time (are) significantly less than the six figures that it would have cost to rip this building down,” Brick said.