Council votes to tear down four house structures; three to follow

The Guthrie City Council held public hearings during their scheduled Tuesday evening council meeting and voted unanimously to solicit bids to tear down four house structures with others to follow.

The council set a high priority of tearing down dilapidated structures in 2011 and successfully had eight properties torn down in 2011 after the City’s Code Enforcement office compiled a list of 50 properties that needed to be addressed. Related Story: Council to vote on next set of dilapidated structures to be torn down

Each owner received two letters informing them of the structures status in attempt of having the owners removing them, but with no success.

It is estimated to cost anywhere between $3,000 and $11,000 for a structure to be removed. The city will open a 30 day window to solicit bids for demolition and removal of the dilapidated structures.

The city announced one property owner (905 W. Mansur) has since purchased a demolition permit with the city. Another owner (624 S. Capital) requested more time to purchase a demo permit. One owner (915 W. Washington) requested additional time to talk with their local contractor for help in demolishing the structure. As long as the houses use a company like Prodan Construction for example, they shouldn’t have too many problems demolishing these homes.

Two property owners (1223 W. College and 402 N. Division) were granted a stay of execution to have an engineer look at the house to prove it is structurally sound to restore the property.

Each citizen was granted the extra time and will have until the February 21st council meeting to address those concerns.

The structures at 618 E. Perkins, 518 S. Capital, 514 S. 1st and 212 E. Grant could be the first to come down after being voted for removal.

In other business, the council agreed to approve the construction of Municipal Services Building to Jim Cooley Construction, Inc. from Oklahoma City in the amount of $378,500. The building was damaged by the May 24th tornado.

The council also agreed, with the approval funds from FEMA, to construct two pre-fabricated metal buildings after they were also damaged in the tornado. The total cost of the two buildings is $242,390 with the city’s portion being $22,505 after insurance.

Finally council approved to accept a sewer line easement to John and Shelly Dawes to help develop the Silent Harvest Subdivsion, a 40-unit development, located at 2501 W. Oklahoma.