Connellsville to raze fire-damaged building
CONNELLSVILLE – The city will move forward with the demolition of a former shoe store that was destroyed in a February fire at its own expense. By a 4-to-1 vote margin council agreed Wednesday to contract with Ritenour and Sons Inc. to raze the Comfort Corner Shoe Store at a cost of $38,000.
However, it remains unclear from which city account the bulk of the payment will be withdrawn.
With Councilman Charles Matthews prepared to designate $30,000 be redirected from the sale of a city-owned West Washington Avenue home, Mayor Judy Reed produced a letter from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that stated the sale proceeds could not be utilized to pay for the demolition.
“Please advise city council that using the funds for demolition of a property that is not owned by the city/HUD doesn’t qualify as proper use for proceeds under HUD’s Dollar Home Sales program,” said Walter Hawthorne, HUD real estate owned division spokesman in a letter received via fax at Reed’s home at 3:26 p.m. Wednesday.
The city purchased the West Washington Street property through the HUD-sponsored program.
Hawthorne additionally stated that the sales contract with the city would “go to support local housing/community development initiatives.”
“Any changes to the proposed disposition that was approved at the time of purchase must be approved by HUD in advance of implementing such a change,” said Hawthorne.
City solicitor Joseph Ferens said that he was not advised of Hawthorne’s ruling until Wednesday afternoon and was not in receipt of the letter until a few minutes before the Wednesday council meeting and was unable to advise council as to how to proceed in the matter.
The project has sparked several heated exchanges between Matthews and Reed concerning the use of the HUD revenues to pay for the demolition. The two again sparred verbally Wednesday about its merits and the last minute distribution of Hawthorne’s letter.
“It is not your money,” Matthews told Reed. “You think it is your money to do with what you want and it is not.”
Councilman Bruce Jaynes speculated Reed had Hawthorne write the letter without having “all the facts” pointing to a copy of the sales contract that states the HUD proceeds can be used for razing unsafe buildings.
In an obtained copy of the sales contract, signed solely by Reed on Oct. 6, 2003, the document requested that a listing be included what “local government programs would benefit from the proceeds,” which Reed listed to be the “providing of funds for community development of other properties” and “the funds can be used to help remove blighted structures.”
Nancy Fritsky and Joseph Borris Jr. own the 1920-built three-story commercial building that housed the shoe store. City records indicated that the site was not insured at the time of the fire.
The February fire destroyed the store and damaged the adjoining Nancy Borris Hair Salon and second floor apartments. Since the fire, Fairview Avenue has been closed off to vehicular and pedestrian traffic due to the unsafe condition of the building.
In a related matter, council agreed to move $8,000 from a parking lot account to defray a portion of the demolition costs.
Ferens said following the meeting he would discuss the matter with Hawthorne to determine the proper use of the HUD funds.
In other unrelated financial business, council agreed to conduct three budget meetings to prepare the 2006 spending plan including Oct. 18 and 26 and Nov. 1.
Jaynes, who serves as director of accounts and finance, said he is currently compiling figures and foresees a spending deficit.
“I’m not sure of what (the deficit) is going to be at this time, but we’ll have the figures for the first budget meeting,” he said.
Jaynes, who leaves office in December, said other than preparing the budget and offering options to equalize the revenues and spending, he will not take an active role in determining how the money will be spent next year.
“I think that will be pretty much up to the mayor,” he said. “She’s going to have to take the bull by the horns and make those tough decisions.”
To balance the 2005 budget, council utilized $350,000 proceeds from the sale of the Route 119/201 property.
Jaynes declined to speculate if a tax increase would be one of his proposed options. Last year he supported a move to impose a $52 Emergency Municipal Services tax, which was later defeated by council.