The demolition program is
moving to remove the blight of vacant properties throughout the village. To
date 7 properties have been removed and number 8 is presently in the process
and next week #9 will be completed. We are in the legal process scheduling the
next 10 properties.
The drawdown for expenditures is and will be February 6,
2016 and the review and payment take between 60-90 days for reimbursement. The
drawdown will cover the following expenditures; Asbestos Inspections, Asbestos
Abatements, and Dumpsters of which to date housing spent $2,785.00 on Asbestos
Inspections and Abatement, village $3,825.00 on Abatement.
The cost of the
dumpsters has not been totaled to date (working on that). Due to the large
amount of debris inside the structures and illegal dumping in the back yards
the number of dumpsters has increased significantly from standard number
required of 3-5 to anywhere from 6-12 bringing the cost of dumpsters for the
first 9 properties to around $20,00.00 to $24,000.00.
The total cost excluding
lawyer fees comes to $2,500.00 to $3,000.00 per property which if the village
had to pay for the total demolition would be $25,000.00 to $30,000.00 per
property. As stated these are expenditures that will be reimbursed with
submission for expenditures quarterly.
As the sheriff’s department wants only
10 properties per phase and it is projected that we would demo around 50
properties within 2016 this is a cost that the Mayor and Board need to consider
due to the requirement that we have to pay in advance and then be reimbursed.
There are other issues that
need to be considered as to expenditures on these properties. First off the
state removed future funding for our grass cutting program and all of these
vacant properties will be require to be maintained throughout the summer
months. PW does not have the manpower and we can work with the sheriff’s SWAP
program on a limited bases.
The issue of vacant properties has been a long
standing problem going back as many as 20 years without any action being taken
when there was money available so do to the lack of past administration’s
looking to the future it has become the blight that it is today. It comes down
to what we do now to prevent further blight and move the village forward.
Keep
in mind that the housing commission is made up of volunteers and we can only
help by doing our part in keeping expenditures to a minimum by doing task the
village hasn’t the money or manpower to do.