Iron Gate mortgages town hall to help pay off legal settlement
“Court records show the town of Iron Gate in Alleghany County had to mortgage its town hall in order to help pay off debt resulting from a legal settlement.
James Martin sued the town after it used eminent domain to take a portion of his property back in 2009, according to court papers.
The town used $700,000 to build a new 250,000 gallon water tank on the property.
Iron Gate mayor Alan Williams said the town council voted to take Martin’s property using eminent domain because it was up against a hard deadline to use that $700K in stimulus money or lose it to Harrisonburg.
Williams explained that the council didn’t know enough about the legalities involved with eminent domain when it took the vote.”
Leamon, Scott. WSLS 10 3 July 2013