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Bids solicited for demolition of Mahanoy City properties

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MAHANOY CITY - Two dilapidated West Centre Street homes are getting closer to being demolished after the borough council voted to advertise for demolition bids at Tuesday's meeting.

The council's action did not reduce the anxiety of people who live near the vacant properties and continued to plead for even faster action.

The properties at 416-418 W. Centre St. have been a concern of Steve Sisak, 420 W. Centre St., for years and he has frequently attended borough council meetings to tell of the problems and damage caused by the neighboring properties.

At the April meeting, borough solicitor Michael A. O'Pake announced that the owner, Cristy Sacks, had agreed to turn over the properties to the borough. During council's May meeting, O'Pake said he was working with the Schuylkill County Tax Claim Bureau to have the two properties placed in borough hands.

Sisak attended Tuesday's meeting and was the first citizen to speak during the public portion, which is held at the start of the meeting. Before he spoke, O'Pake began his explanation about a delay in turning the property over the borough, which will occur in July instead of June. However, the solicitor said the council would advertise to solicit bids for the demolition.

"I'm going to recommend to council tonight that they put an advertisement in the paper seeking demolition bids, so that when we have the properties in hand, the demolition will be ready to go in mid-July," O'Pake said.

"They have to come down soon," Sisak said. "I have water coming in. I have mold in my living room walls now. Pigeons are really multiplying and the summer is bringing on the rats. I can't tell you what we're living with."

"I understand," O'Pake said.

"I know you understand. All of you do but we need help," Sisak said.

"It's on its way," O'Pake said.

"It's been on its way for four years," Sisak said.

"We're about a month away from getting the properties down but unfortunately, it costs money to do all these things," O'Pake said. "It's a matter of money. If council raises taxes, then there are complaints about that. There's just not enough money to go around to fix this town up the way everybody would like it to be fixed up. Council is doing the best they can with the resources they have."

"The whole place is going to come down," Sisak said. "I hope we don't have a Philadelphia that they're going to kill us when they do start the demolition. It's a big health problem."


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