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Thursday May 7, 2015 Vol. 3, No. 11
The Weekly Post
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Elmwood’s Palace Theatre faces sale or foreclosure By BILL KNIGHT
ELMWOOD – The 102-year-old Palace Theatre is for sale, but it’s also the target of a foreclosure proceeding by its lender, Farmers State Bank (FSB) of Elmwood. Owner Vern Reynolds is asking $315,000 for the single-screen movie house, and FSB is demanding that he and Reynolds Theatres Entertainment, Inc. pay what the bank says it is due: $155,130.35 and an additional $12,776.11 for another loan in default. For The Weekly Post
Ex-employees in Farmington voice criticism
However, court filings also name the City of Elmwood as defendants, recognizing a 2011 Recapture Agreement between Reynolds and the City of Elmwood. Filings say that contract is subordinate to all four mortgages Reynolds undertook. The Recapture Agreement provides for a loan to Reynolds of $138,363 secured by an agreement to operate for five years from the date of the pact, after which the loan is forgiven in its entirety. That date is in April of 2016. If the Palace is sold or closes before then, however, the agree-
ment stipulates the entire sum is due to the City of Elmwood. Therefore, if Reynolds sells the Palace, $167,906.46 could be due to FSB and an additional $138,363 due the City of Elmwood for a total of $306,269.46. A separate loan of $23,565 from the City of Elmwood to help Reynolds upgrade the Palace’s projection system is apparently not affected by the foreclosure lawsuit or the Recapture accord. The projector loan is from a USDA-backed fund managed by the City and has a balance of
THE HAYSTACK
By MICHELLE SHERMAN
FARMINGTON – In a tense ending to what was an otherwise calm meeting, the Farmington City Council heard complaints from former employees regarding police department matters. During new business at Monday’s meeting, the council approved the recommendation that the cases of two full-time officers who had received two consecutive below-average scores be turned over to the police commission for termination. Though the measure passed without discussion from the council, members of the audience wanted to make their thoughts known once regular business had been handled. First to stand up was Don Radosevich, a 17-year veteran of the Farmington Police Department. He was visibly upset as he paced, saying “I’m that officer that’s up for termination,” referring to the earlier measure. “I get the worst appraisal of anybody,” he said. “Thank you very much. This is a real good place to work when you let an
Elmwood teachers OK new contract By BILL KNIGHT
For The Weekly Post
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$19,038.46, according to City records. Elmwood Economic Development director Dick Taylor said the City values the Palace. “We feel it’s an important part of the business district,” he said. “The City wants to see that business continue to operate, and we’d encourage interested parties to pursue it.” Reynolds had no comment other than to say, “We will be there operating. We’re not going anywhere.” The subject did not come up during Continued on Page 4
ELMWOOD – It was a tale of two meetings at the Board of Education get-together on Wednesday (April 29), although the sessions didn’t represent “the best of times” or “the worst of times.” The Board’s first meeting involved the resolution of major issues, from an early settlement of a teacher contract to action on a building project’s bids and bonds. The second meeting an hour later was more routine, with newly elected Board members sworn in and a structure set for the year. Terms of the teachers contract were kept secret by the Board and the union before teachers unanimously ratified the tentative agreement and the Board approved the pact. The two-year contract provides for a 2.25 percent wage hike for 2015-16 and a 2 percent raise for 2016-17, with some additional compensation for extra duties, advanced degrees and years of experience. The current contract for the Elmwood Teachers Association, Local 4235 of the For The Weekly Post
Farmington High School students work on “The Haystack,” a new online magazine. Photo by Jeff Otto.
Students run online magazine By MICHELLE SHERMAN
FARMINGTON – For Farmington Community High School senior Maggie Cecil, it took kissing a few proverbial frogs before she found a real prince. “I don’t like going out and interviewing people … so I probably won’t go into journalism,” she said of her experience working on The Haystack, FCHS’s new online magFor The Weekly Post
azine. “I do enjoy editing papers and reading over articles. “(The experience) kind of pushed me in a different direction than where I was going.” Broadening students’ horizons was one of the goals of the elective course that produced the magazine, now nearing the end of its first semester. Twelve students from all four Continued on Page 2
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