By Ryan Berry

DailyAdvocate.com

GREENVILLE — Darke County Commissioners are moving forward with the cleanup of additional properties in the county. There was funding remaining from the most recent round of properties that were demolished which allowed the commissioners to add another 11 properties to the list slated for cleanup.

On Tuesday, Commissioners Matt Aultman, Marshall Combs and Larry Holmes approved a specific services agreement for asbestos inspections on the properties. According to Aultman, this is something new the state is requiring for demolitions and was not required on the previous demolitions. Aultman said, “During the time from when we tore down the first group of houses somebody said, ‘hey, are you doing asbestos assessments.’ We said no because we were taking them down wet at the time, which was an approved method. Now we have to do asbestos assessments on all of the houses because someone stipulated in the meantime that we had to do them.” Turn-Key Environmental Consultants, Inc. will provide the service at a cost of $6,860.

Commissioners also paid $118,250 to cover Burgess & Niple Consultant for Phase one and two of the Warren Sunoco Project. This fee only covers the consulting services and does not cover the cleanup of the property. This part of the project was required for the EPA assessment of the property. The next step will be to reapply for cleanup dollars. The county sought Brownfield funding to fix the issues at the property. The county will receive the money back for the assessment because of the grant money that has been promised.

Commissioners also approved the Lead Safe Ohio grant agreement between the State of Ohio, Ohio Department of Development and Darke County. The grant comes from the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds programs to assist local homeowners in having lead-free homes. Darke County received $642,000.

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