Five more properties to be razed in village

COAL GROVE— Lawrence County fiscal officer Patricia Fields and deputy treasurer Marie McKenzie. representing the Land Bank, met with Coal Grove Village Council on Wednesday evening to discuss upcoming demolitions scheduled for the village, as well as other issues. In the next round of demolitions, they told council, five properties in the village would be demolished.

“We haven’t forgotten Coal Grove,” Fields assured the council, and told them they are working on moving forward with these demolitions and identifying other properties that the land bank may be able to claim.

In addition to the five properties that will be demolished in the next round, they told council, there are 10 more properties that they will be acquiring in July or August, and that, with others in the judicial process, they have identified 22 properties they are looking into acquiring.

They responded to council inquiries about how properties qualified for the program, explaining that they had to be tax delinquent to be claimed through judicial process. When asked if they might ever purchase blighted properties that were not tax delinquent, they explained that once the program is self sustaining, they might be able to look at purchasing such properties, but that was not currently their focus.

They also asked for police assistance with traffic control while demolition took place on certain properties, and said that they wanted to get properties near the school or bus routes out of the way first, so that they wouldn’t impact school traffic.

In other action, council discussed complaints of dirty water and explained that, with their aging infrastructure, some water discoloration was inevitable. Though problems with discolored water can sometimes be alleviated by flushing the lines, those familiar with the water system said that it also has the potential to stir up sediment for other residents.

Councilman Shawn McDaniel said that, with school so close, he was reluctant to flush pipes and ruin laundry that might contain new clothes.

Councilman Andy Holmes said he understood the issues, but that the village needed to “start doing something” to make the water clean.

Council also discussed the issue of people not paying their bills and fines to the village, or completing work to pay off fines or fees.

When council members asked about arresting them for non-payment, legal counsel advised them that they could not have individuals arrested for failing to pay.

However, if the individual was summoned to mayor’s court for unpaid fines or fees, and did not show up, they could be arrested for failure to appear.

In other action council approved a motion to request monthly police reports on expenditures and expenses, approved invoices, and suspended the three reading rule to adopt resolution 2017-6, requesting Issue 2 funds for paving projects in the village, on a second reading.

Council then adjourned into executive session, to discuss a complaint against a public official.