By Jacob Clary - [email protected]

Pictured are (l-r) Randy Mustard, Mackenzie Edison and Lauren Walker as they discuss land bank matters.

The Highland County Land Reutilization Corporation (land bank) announced Thursday the awarding of five of the six bids for a Building Demolition and Site Revitalization Grant.

Bid packets awarded at the meeting were as follows:

* The total awarded Bid Packet 1 bid was from B. Vance Excavating LLC for $28,000, with 229 E. South St. in Hillsboro bid for $13,000, 522 Johnson St. for $7,500 and 360 Johnson St. for $7,500.

* The total awarded Bid Packet 2 bid was from B. Vance Excavating LLC for $29,100, with 529 E. Walnut St. for $9,500, 533 E. Walnut St. for $9,500, 123 Hill St. for $6,000 and 453 E. Main St. for $6,500.

* The total Bid Packet 3 bid was from JWM Excavating LLC for $19,399, with 622 S. East St. for $8,500, 331 Wellston St. for $5,900 and 315 Wellston St. for $4,900.

* The total Bid Packet 5 bid was from Banks Construction and Excavating for $38,100, with 23 N. High St. in Mowrystown for $7,100, an unaddressed North High Street property for $2,500, 29 Maple St. for $9,100, 36 Maple St. for $9,100 and 81 Main St for $10,300.

* The total Bid Packet 6 bid was from AK Excavation LLC for $47,000, with 222 S. Broadway St. in Lynchburg for $7,000, 410 E. Short St. for $20,000 and 113 S. Sycamore St. for $20,000.

For Bid Packet 4, Mackenzie Edison, land bank coordinator, said it would cost “a lot” to abate the asbestos in the S.R. 73 barn. She said the roof is caved in and they found shingles in the ground that had asbestos.The testers thought the lowest it would cost to abate the asbestos would be $75,000.

Jeff Duncan, Highland County Board of Commissioners president, said that the land bank might want to hold off on awarding Bid Packet 4 until the land bank figures out how to handle the asbestos on the property.

Edison agreed, saying at this time they would not award Bid Packet 4.

In othernews, Edison said the land bank did asbestos testing on 19 of the properties that were bid out. She said 11 of them came back without asbestos and were able to move freely on to demolition.

However, she said two of the properties came back and that the windows would need to be retested. She said the testers said they would retest the windows, and if they come back at 1 percent or more asbestos, it’s confirmed to have asbestos. But, if they have .99 percent or less asbestos, the testers could move on.

Edison said for the other six properties, the testers found asbestos that would need to be removed. She said the testers gave the land bank the cost for the removal of the asbestos as well as the pricing to clean up the area of the property to get to the asbestos.

The land bank moved to allow the area clean up on those properties.

The land bank also moved to allow Edison, in case the two properties that need to be retested come back with a positive asbestos test, to move forward and clean those properties and the surrounding area.

Concerning the Brownfield Grant project, Edison said she submitted the reporting for the Elliott Hotel and the Rocky Fork Truck Stop for Round 1. She said, however, that she was still waiting for the report from Tetra Tech to submit the one for the East Monroe Mill for Round 1 reporting. Also, Edison said Round 2 for the grant still hasn’t been awarded, so they’re still waiting on the demolition part of the project.

Edison said 6638 Wizard of Oz Way in the Rocky Fork Lake area has been cleared and is able to be put up for sale. She said the appraised land value was $11,000 and it would cost $4,000 to clean it up fully.

The land bank moved to sell it for $11,000 to begin, and should it not sell or receive any offers, the land bank would discuss the possibility of lowering the price.

It also moved to hire Todd Book, with By the Book Advisors LLC, as the board’s legal counsel at the cost of $325 and $40 drive-time to and from meetings, which was to not exceed $4,000 in a year.

The land bank also moved forward to have Edison reach out to Mill-Huff Stang and see if they would continue to audit the land bank’s books again next year.

Phil LaJoye, a representative from Portsmouth Hydroseeding LLC, gave a presentation on hydroseeding at the meeting.

LaJoye said a hydroseeder is a machine that mixes compressed bales of wood paper mulch where they put fertilizer and grass seed polymers together. He said it also uses a tackifier that helps stick the whole product together to help with erosion control. He also said as it mixes, the seeds are being primed. LaJoye said this product speaks for itself, as he showed multiple photos where the grass grew only six to seven days following putting it down.

He said the company has done work with Ross, Lawrence and Scioto counties. He said the way they do the work is by separating the demolition contracting and greenery contracting.

LaJoye said the company charges $2,400 per tank for residential properties, with one tank covering a half-acre or 22,000 square feet.

Duncan said the presentation would give Edison the chance to reach out to some of the counties and also do some calculations and come back with a recommendation.

The land bank moved to give Edison online access to view the bank account and remove Julie Bolender from the bank account as a signer. It also moved to change the statutory agent with the state of Ohio to Edison.

The next meeting of the land bank is scheduled for 9 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 20.

Reach Jacob Clary at 937-402-2570.

We appreciate you sharing our content on social media.

Please consider following us by clicking below.

Send this to a friend