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Dunbar council votes against ownership of hotel

By Jackie Beranek 3 min read

DUNBAR – Borough council could not agree this week to take over ownership of the Dunbar Hotel. Council President John Maddas said local businessman Dom D’Amico recently turned the deed to the building, located on Connellsville Street, over to him. However, council members Ron Gross, Patrick FitzGerald and Harold Hair said they are not sure they want the responsibility of fixing it up.

“It would cost us a lot of money to fix up the building,” said Gross. “One estimate I heard was about one-half million dollars.”

Gross additionally said it would cost the borough between $80,000 and $100,000 to take the building down if they found out that it couldn’t be fixed up.

Maddas said, “It’s ours here and right now, so we need to look into getting some grant money to fix it up because it’s a historical building.”

Maddas said he thought that grants could be gotten through the county and/or the state and said he would like to see the borough make an apartment complex out of the building. Gross disagreed again saying that he couldn’t see how the borough could come up with money needed to fix it up.

FitzGerald said council had the building condemned sometime back and asked “Why would we want it now?”

Mayor John Williams said council never voted to accept the building and Maddas said he accepted the deed on behalf of council.

Solicitor Doug Sepic said the building was assessed at $33,470 and could be sold.

“You guys can turn around and auction it off tomorrow if you want to,” said Sepic. “And you might be able to make a profit.”

In the meantime, council could not agree to add the building to the borough’s insurance policy. Gross, FitzGerald and Hair voted no on the measure while Maddas and Councilwoman Kathy Dynes voted yes.

In other matters, council hired a new secretary. Maddas told council that he and Dynes were instructed last month to interview potential secretaries and to make a decision on who would be best qualified to replace secretary Holly Green, who tendered her resignation in July in order to take another job.

Maddas said he received 10 or 11 applications and narrowed the list down to three. He recommended that Robin Beal be hired and said that Dynes disqualified herself from the process since Beal is her daughter.

Council instructed Williams to make sure that the Dunbar police work on the weekends. Maddas said most of the town’s crime is committed late at night or early in the mornings on the weekends.

Maddas also announced that the borough is looking to hire several part-time officers. Beal will advertise for the positions.

Beal told council that she had eight residents who are interested in forming a Crime Watch in the borough. Williams said if anyone else is interested they should call the borough office at 724-277-4949 and let Beal know. Twelve residents are needed in order to form the group.

Council agreed to have Sepic prepare a petition allowing the borough to vacate .17 miles of property on the old Morrell road, located near Action Oil. According to adjoining landowners Emmitt Dziedzicki and Todd Rittenhouse, all-terrain vehicle riders, coming from Morrell, are using the path to ride their vehicles in Dunbar Borough and Dunbar Township.

Once the property is vacated by the borough the landowners plan to put up a barricade so that the riders cannot access the property. The move will also eliminate the borough’s insurance responsibility.

FitzGerald also reminded council that the Dunbar Volunteer Fire Department will sponsor a Poker Ride as part of the 2006 Dunbar Community Fest.

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