South Jefferson Land Bank Transfer Properties, Swears In Board Member During Special Meeting

The board of the South Jefferson Land Bank held a special meeting in November. During that meeting, eight lots were transferred to two local landowners and a board member was sworn in.The board normally meets the second Wednesday of the month. Because the transfers and other business were handled at the special meeting on November 19, the December 10 meeting was canceled, according to the posted notice, “due to lack of agenda items.”When asked why a special meeting was necessary, board chair Michael Gaston did not respond. However, Fairbury Mayor Kelly Davis did. He indicated it was to swear in a board member.At the regularly scheduled board meeting on November 12, it was learned that the terms of two members of the board, Christine Zabokrtsky and Michaela Call, had actually expired on September 30, 2025. Zabokrtsky was sworn in on the November 10 meeting but Call was late to that meeting. Therefore, according to mayor Davis, “They held the meeting last night to swear her in and make the voting on the previous agenda items legal by voting on them again.”During that November 19 meeting, the board two transferred eight lots as part of the Earned Credit Acquisition Program (ECAP). A land bank is an entity created by a municipality which generally allows for the acquisition, maintenance, development, and disposition of real property for the purpose of returning it to productive use. The ECAP program allows people to get vacant lots from the Land Bank for free by proving they’ll maintain or build on them, using earning credits instead of paying cash.Of the eight properties transferred, two went to Rosener Development LLC, owned by Tyler Rosener. The other six went to Jason Burkenmmeier, who is employed by Tyler Rosener to maintain his properties. According to the applications, Rosener and Burkenmeier do not intend to build on the properties but intend to clean them up and maintain them.Chair Gaston has also announced that he will be relocating to a residence outside of the city limits in December and will no longer be eligible to be in the board.

Doris Daniels

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