Seneca hoping to settle Haynes Case

The City of Seneca is holding out hope that it can settle the long-running legal fight with members of the Haynes family about the former Harper’s department store in downtown. At their meeting Tuesday night, the Seneca City Council discussed the case in executive session and then authorized City Administrator Scott Moulder to negotiate with the family, explains Mayor Dan Alexander. “There was a motion that came out of there that authorized Mr. Moulder to negotiate an agreement there. So, that is continuing to move forward. That is in the legal process right now, so there is a lot of work being done particularly with that and hopefully Mr. Moulder will be able to come to some type of agreement that will be beneficial to everybody, especially to the city.” The city is hoping to end years of litigation both at the municipal and circuit court levels. The city has maintained that conditions of the building are unsafe.