DECATUR, Ill. (WAND)- The City Council Monday approved a contract to demolish a house at 409 South Webster Street, one of nine demolitions the city has bid out.
The $20,410 demolition contract with Steve’s Trucking includes $7,850 in asbestos removal costs. Bids for demolition of the other eight properties fell below $20,000, which meant those contracts did not need to be approved by council vote, explained interim City Manager Billy Tyus. The other eight properties are:
897 West Leafland
2116 North Lowber
1653 East North
1504 North Union
1701 North Union
1513 East Walnut
“Over the last several years, we haven’t done a lot of (demolitions) because we haven’t had the funding to do so,” Tyus said. “Council has made it a priority for us to identify funding to begin tearing down properties, and we’ve begun doing that this year after several years of not doing very many, quite frankly.”
The city plans to have 29 properties demolished soon and aims to have 47 properties in the process of demolition by February, Tyus said. That process can be lengthy, especially efforts to track down property owners, he said.
“There’s some responsibility to be shared here from property owners,” Tyus said. “Ultimately, while we’re doing this work, it comes at a cost to taxpayers.”
