Ida Public Library selling home for $1

By Kathryn Menue

EDITOR

On Friday, July 8, the Ida Public Library Board held a board meeting to discuss one particular item.

Board trustees present at the meeting included Jan Knutson, Paul Grover, Jim Holich, Josie Riley, and Sue Holmes. Also at the meeting were Architect Paul Ollman and Library Director Debbie Bloom.

They met in the Sullivan Conference Room on the bottom floor of the library at 10 a.m. to discuss offering the home listed at 117 W. Hurlbut Ave. in Belvidere for sale to the public for $1.

However, for $1, the new owner would only receive the home. The property would still belong to Ida Public Library and the new owner of the home must move the house off the property.

Trustee Jim Holich said that before they approved the motion to list the house for $1 that they should include that the buyer must provide all of the permits, insurance, and other required documents for the sale of the home.

“I just want to shield the library from any liability,” Holich said.

With this addition to the proposal, the Library Board passed the motion to sell 117 W. Hurlbut for $1.

After passing the motion, Paul Ollman said they should put a sign in the yard listing the sale as “House for sale, purchaser to relocate, and to contact Deb about the sale.”

The board agreed and said that they will also list the home on Craigslist, and take ads out in the local papers to help sell the house.

Ollman said that although the concept of selling the house for a $1 seems unorthodox, this has been done in the county before in the 1980s with a home located near the old Boone Bank building.

The board remained hopeful that since this scenario worked in the past, it will work again.

“If this were to work out, it’d be good for everybody,” Ollman said.

If the property does sell, Bloom said they would use the vacant lot for library purposes.

“We’re looking at that property for future expansion,” Bloom said.

Bloom said that future expansion will be determined if and when the house sells and is removed from the property.