Cole County Presiding Judge Pat Joyce said she will have a judgment within 15-20 days after a brief bench trial took place Tuesday afternoon in the case of a Jefferson City woman being sued by the city for violating the citys nuisance code.
Only one witness was called to the stand in the case against Barbara Buescher.
City Clerk Phyllis Powell was called by Assistant City Attorney Bryan Wolford, who went through tax bills that had been sent to addresses of Buescher's properties.
Powell does the paperwork for the city's tax liens.
After going through the list, Wolfard asked Powell if she knew when the bills had been paid, if any, and she said no.
Buescher's attorney, Audrey Smollen, called no witnesses but filed briefs with the court objecting to the city's motions in this case.
Buescher was not at the hearing, and Smollen said she was "very ill."
"We basically want public funds back," said City Attorney Drew Hilpert. "We're not asking for anything new."
Hilpert said the suit does not seek ownership of Buescher's properties, but he noted "once you get a judgment against someone in circuit court, there is a possibility of forcing a sale of real estate as a collection method."
He said if such a judgment is entered, the city could, and likely would, seek the forced sale of one or more of her properties.
As of Tuesday, city documents show Buescher still owes approximately $25,000 for work the city did to maintain several of her properties.
The city has boarded up or done yard maintenance on the properties, then billed Buescher for the work as allowed by the city's nuisance ordinances.
The city initially sought $49,000 when the case was filed in December 2014, but Buescher paid overdue property taxes in August 2015. That payment of roughly $24,000 covered the first three counts of the initial petition.
"I know it seems like a long time, but you've got to figure it took us almost four or five months to get her served because she kept hiding from us," Wolford said. "They've been delaying this as much as they can."
Smollen declined to comment after Tuesday's court proceedings.