Butte-Silver Bow commissioners have authorized the county attorney to seek legal access to Neil “Joe” Lynch’s collapsed building on South Wyoming Street so the county could demolish the rest of the building before winter sets in.
The decision Wednesday night came hours after Lynch filed a lawsuit against the county in Butte District Court claiming the county did not help him remediate water damage that occurred to the building in 2009 and ultimately caused it to collapse.
Without comment or debate, commissioners authorized County Attorney Eileen Joyce to file a court action seeking access to the property and trying to recover demolition costs from Lynch. Officials say demolition costs will easily exceed $100,000.
Commissioners have questioned for weeks whether Lynch, who owes thousands of dollars in delinquent property taxes as well as unpaid federal and state taxes, could afford the demolition himself.
But commissioners, as well as Chief Executive Matt Vincent, had grown increasingly frustrated after four months of wrangling with Lynch produced no results.
Joyce’s request to the council included a six-page timeline of back-and-forth demands, discussions and correspondence between the county and Lynch, his agent and his attorney since the south side of the long-vacant building collapsed June 28.