Neighbor asks council for reprieve on silage pile

By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

A neighbor to a large pile of silage on the west end of Main St. asked Marion city council members at Monday’s meeting to give the owner a reprieve on an order to remove the pile.

Lincolnville feedlot owner Mike Beneke, owner of the former Straub building at 601 W. Main, started piling the silage on the property in July. He was ordered two weeks ago by a municipal judge to remove the pile within 10 days. Municipal judge Randall Pankratz warned Beneke that if he failed to comply with the court’s order, he could be fined and ordered to serve up to 30 days in jail.

“I’m not trying to cause a stink,” Tina Steele told council members. “I know I had come and spoken about the trucks. Since then, he has come over and spoken with the neighborhood.”

Steele lives at 548 W. Santa Fe, north of the silage pile.

Steele said she’d studied silage and decided the pile will cause no damage. She also said disturbing the pile at this point in the fermentation process would damage the silage.

“I guess what I am asking is that, considering it’s halfway done and he only needs another seven weeks, let him have it,” Steele said.

Mayor Todd Heitschmidt told Steele the matter of removing the silage would be decided today during an afternoon hearing.

Following Pankratz‘s ruling, Beneke requested a second hearing to ask for an extension of time.

Beneke earlier painted “4 Sale” in the windows of the building. On Tuesday, he was scraping off the paint. He said he has located a buyer for the building and expects to close the deal within 30 days.

Beneke declined to say who plans to purchase the property.