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TL Photo / CARRI GRAHAM The city demolished a dilapidated house on Center Street. Site clearance work is underway and will continue throughout the week.
MARTINS FERRY – Thanks to the skills of the city mayor and his former demolition company, the city was able to save over $ 20,000 by demolishing a dilapidated house on Center Street.
The demolition of the house on the 400 block of Center Street began on Monday.
Mayor John Davies, who previously owned and operated a demolition and construction business, was able to save the city thousands of dollars by doing the demolition work himself using his own equipment.
“I have all the equipment, you might as well use it” he said.
The city has been working for over a year to shave the house down.
Davies said they hadn’t been able to do this before because the owner was in an assisted living facility and couldn’t get his permission.
Last month, the building began to collapse, making it an imminent danger that gave council the power to declare the dismantling emergency.
The council initially approved $ 34,000 for the destruction of the house; However, because Davies did the job himself, it will only cost the city about $ 11,000 to have the remaining materials transported and placed in the landfill. Davies does all the work for free, which means the city can do more.
Davies said they were working on hauling the materials this week with work scheduled for completion next week. He said the property still had a tax lien of $ 24,000. After the debris was cleaned up, he said he might suggest that council remove the tax lien so the property can be sold to someone.
It is the second dilapidated house the city has demolished since last month, the first being located on Ellett Street. Davies said he hopes more will follow. A third demolition is scheduled for a Fifth Street property, the former Rose Café, which the owner has ceded to the city.
“It takes longer to complete the paperwork than to get the job done. … We don’t know when everything will be finalized, but when it will, it won’t take long after that ”, he said.
“Everything takes time. People have to understand that it takes about three or four months, if all goes well, to demolish one of these houses. Before, the problem was money, but now, since we do most of the work ourselves, it’s relatively cheap. … So we hope to do a little more.
Davies said they are trying to make the city a better place for residents.
“We are trying to eliminate the plagues. We will never be able to remove them all, but we try to remove what we can. It’s a beginning,” he added.
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