Property dispute headed to jury trial

IOLA – A legal battle between the Village of Iola and local business owner Mark McCoy over a condemned downtown property is headed to a jury trial.

The dispute centers on a property at 119 S. Main St., which McCoy purchased from the village for $100 on Oct. 20, 2022, while he was serving as a voting member of the Iola Village Board of Trustees. McCoy resigned from his seat in January 2025.

According to a complaint the village filed in its lawsuit against McCoy, the village agreed to the heavily discounted price because the building was condemned and the previous owner surrendered it rather than comply with a raze order. The village alleges that as part of the contract, McCoy agreed to either raze the building or repair it to a satisfactory condition by Nov. 1, 2023.

Documents say that McCoy failed to make noticeable improvements by the deadline. The village alleges that McCoy refused to obtain a building permit and would not allow the building inspector inside the property. On Dec. 14, 2023, McCoy conveyed the property to his girlfriend, Lori Miller.

The village also contends that McCoy used the windows of the building at 119 S. Main St. and another neighboring building he owns at 105 S. Main St., to hang banners advertising his other business, Mark McCoy’s Flat Tracker Tap.

The village alleges that the signs violate a Central Business District ordinance stating signs must relate to the establishment occupying the building. The banners currently remain in the windows of both buildings.

The village filed a lawsuit in February 2024, requesting that the property be deeded back to the village. The suit also sought $10,000 in damages, plus court costs and daily fines for the non-compliant signs. At the time the village filed the lawsuit two years ago, fines for the ordinance violation totaled nearly $12,000.

McCoy disputed the claims in legal filings, arguing he never received documentation of a raze order, did not perform work requiring a permit, and did not violate his purchase contract by selling the building to Miller.

The case initially appeared to conclude on Feb. 11, 2025, when Judge Vicki Clussman awarded summary judgment to the village. The judge ordered McCoy and Miller to pay $3,759 in costs and yield possession of the premises to the village.

McCoy retained a new attorney who filed a motion for relief about a week after Clussman’s order, arguing that McCoy never received notice of a motion for summary judgment, no hearing was held, and the judge’s order to yield possession exceeded the village’s original pleadings.

Following the motion, the summary judgment was suspended. A jury trial is scheduled for Oct. 12 and 13.