By Ryan Berry

DailyAdvocate.com

GREENVILLE — The Darke County Commissioners are working with the Village of Hollansburg to remove a building that is not only an eyesore but is also a safety hazard.

On Tuesday, Sept. 5, Darke County Commissioners Matt Aultman, Larry Holmes and Marshall Combs approved a resolution authorizing the emergency demolition of a building in Hollansburg. On Aug. 28, the village passed its resolution regarding the property at 104 N. Main Street and said it posed imminent risk of injury or death upon its pending collapse and should be razed as soon as possible. A few days later, the Darke County Court of Common Pleas agreed with the village’s motion for an emergency injunction.

Because the county has additional funds available from a grant from the Ohio Department of Development that has been used to tear down and clear out houses from around the county, the county sought approval from the state to use some of the funds for this demolition project. The county is currently accepting bids for the removal of the hazardous structure(s).

“This has been in the process for a little over a month,” said Commissioner Aultman. “It’s one of the buildings that is in town that started to collapse at the end of July.” Because the estate had nine or 10 owners of the building, the village chose to go through the court system to get approval to remove the structure.

Aultman said the building is leaning “a good seven or eight feet and the direction it is leaning is in the direction of the main power supply for the Village of Hollansburg.”

Commissioner Holmes said, “They moved quickly. If you saw the building, you saw the need. We are fortunate they are allowing us to amend the demolition grant.” Holmes pointed to a similar situation in Pitsburg when the former store began to collapse and threatened a neighbor’s home. Unfortunately, the county did not have grant money to tear down that building, and the cost was shared by Darke County taxpayers.

The county still does not have a total for the cost of the Special Election held in August. The commissioners approved a resolution to transfer funds to cover costs, but Aultman believes the grant received from the state should cover all the costs of the election. “The grant covered it all because they are talking about sending some money back is the last discussion I had with them,” said Aultman. “I don’t think they have it all tallied yet, but I think (it is) between $55,000 and $58,000 for the special election.” The Board of Elections is still compiling the hours poll workers logged and the amount of volunteer hours that are turned in. “Some people volunteer to work at the polls to get their volunteer hours in,” Aultman added.

To contact Daily Advocate Editor Ryan Berry, email [email protected].