The City of Zanesville is not playing an active role in the situation involving John Kemp Rentals, at least not yet.

“I’m not the one who’s going to have to make this decision. It’s going to be council (‘s) that we take these properties, and again, it’ll be council’s appropriation to tear them down,” Mayor Jeff Tilton said. “There’s nothing in the works here yet, because I’ve yet to see an ordinance be drafted.”

While much confusion has been floating throughout the city concerning what exactly is going to happen to all of John Kemp’s properties, the Mayor said that the city has no say as of yet.

According to Muskingum County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney John Litle, Kemp must be sentenced before the city will have a chance to either accept responsibility for the properties or leave them in the possession of Kemp.

With that in mind, the city is taking a hands-off approach to the situation until everything is finalized over at the county prosecutor’s office.

“They (prosecutor’s office) have yet to show me any kind of agreement, any agreement even taking the properties over has to go through city council. I have no control over that,” Tilton said. “And the money appropriated to demo those properties, again, has to go through city council. I have yet to see an ordinance for either one.”

Once the sentencing in Kemp’s case is finalized, Zanesville City Council will have an opportunity to vote on an ordinance concerning the matter. After three readings, if the ordinance were to pass, Tilton will have to provide the final signature to accept the properties or to veto the ordinance.

Tilton stated that the city will have no part in kicking anyone out of their homes during the winter.

“We can’t do it that way, we couldn’t kick these people out 30 days or whatever they told … and from what I understand, the county did not tell them that,” Tilton said. “So, I don’t know if people are making things up to make everybody look bad but themselves, I don’t know. But, as for the city, we’re just sitting here, just waiting.”

Public Safety Director, Keane Toney, echoed Tilton’s clarifications that the city has no stakes in the issue as of yet, although, the city’s decision will come into play long before any of Kemp’s properties are demolished if council decides to accept them.

“We’ll work with the prosecutor’s office, of course we will. I have a lot of respect for them, I have a lot of respect for John (Litle), both of us do,” Toney said. “But until we see something factual, we can’t even make a decision, or even start our process, until we get the facts in front of us, the documentation in front of us so that we can make an educated decision as to how we’re going to move forward as a city.”

According to Tilton, there are about 350 properties in the possession of the city. Each year, the city has an allotted budget to demolish anywhere from 10 to 20 homes.

With the addition of Kemp properties, that demolition list will grow exponentially, although, to Tilton’s understanding, not all of the John Kemp Rental properties would have to be torn down in one sweep, rather they would get added to the demolition list.

“Again, the perception is we’re going to take all of these houses down at one time, there’s no way we can do that,” Tilton said. “And no way we will do that if we are involved at all.”

For more information surrounding the John Kemp Rental properties and the criminal case against Kemp, visit the story below.

‘Tenants are victims’ as Kemp properties face demolition pending city decision