The Blairsville borough council accepted a bid for the demolition of a condemned property at Tuesday night’s meeting. That same property will continue to serve a purpose to the local fire company until demolition begins.
The council accepted a bid for the demolition of a home at 276 Morewood Avenue in the amount of $18,500. The low bid was submitted by Santella Excavating of Derry. Borough Manager Tim Evans said the project should be underway by October.
In the mean time, the council’s Ab Dettorre said Blairsville firefighters will continue conducting training exercises there:
“We’ll be doing some ventilation access from the outside in the future, when we know the exact date of demolition.”
And as to the kinds of exercises that have been done:
“A lot of search and rescue and a lot of good things that you just can’t do on a regular basis, so it’s been good.”
In other news, the council passed a resolution to accept the Indiana County 2018 Hazard Mitigation Plan, active for 5 years.
On the status of the Verizon communications tower, Evans reported that aspects of the lease are still being negotiated, including insurance specifics and what the borough would receive financially should Verizon allow another service provider to use the tower as well.
During the public comment period of the meeting, the council heard from Jason Thoma, who said property he owns beside the Walker Building was damaged during its demolition earlier this year. No action was taken during the meeting.
Lastly, the Knotweed Festival is slated for August 11th, beginning with a parade that morning at 10:30.
