Greene Square Park building slated for demolition Monday

Weather permitting, demolition of the 1960s-era city building in Greene Square Park is slated to begin Monday, 45 months after the City Council voted to take the building down.

Greg Eyerly, the city's flood-recovery director, reported Thursday that D.W. Zinser Co., the Walford, Iowa, demolition contractor that has and continues to work on flood-related city contracts, is doing the work on the park building for free.

Eyerly said David Zinser, president of the company, “wanted to volunteer” on the project.

The building took on a little flood water during the June 2008 flood, and Eyerly thought the city would receive a small amount of money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency because the city can't reuse the building.

Back in March 2007, the City Council voted, 5-4, to require the park building's only user, the Green Square Meals program, to move from the park building so the city could demolish it. The vote was an emotional one. The meals program came up with a plan to renovate the building, but a council majority said the building, unused by the city, wasn't worth saving.