Highland County land bank board reviews recent issues with demolition projects

Members of the Highland County Land Reutilization Corporation (land bank) board reviewed several recent developments with properties in the Building Demolition & Site Revitalization Grant Program, taking action on some proposals while rejecting other requests.

The meeting was held a day later than usual due to not having a quorum on Thursday, July 16.

The board first rejected proposed change orders for two properties, at a cost of $3,650 each, in the 2024-25 iteration of the grant program in a change from their previous meeting.

“We won’t approve it,” board member David Daniels said. “We don’t even need to deny it. As far as I’m concerned, he’s done his contact.”

During a special meeting June 26, the board debated, then ultimately approved, a change order for work at 246 East South Street in Hillsboro after a cistern was discovered on the property. The land bank board’s vote Friday included proposed change orders for that property as well as on 226 South High Street in Hillsboro. 

Land bank administrator Jason Johansen said the same contractor is working on both parcels and located another previously unknown cistern on the South High property.

“I did consult with Todd [Book, legal counsel] and Terry [Britton, board president], and we agreed that the board had already made their decision on how to treat a cistern and call it an ‘unknown condition’ and grant a change order to the contractor.” Johansen said. “Since we had just had a special meeting, the board made it clear how we would deal with those, so we went ahead and told him to get us a change order for that cistern as well. 

“Last meeting, we did approve for a $3,900 quote estimate from [the contractor] for that cistern removal. The board did authorize me to negotiate that. He did come down to $3,400, and then Wednesday, I received another estimate for those cisterns that added a $250 permit to them, which is what the health department charges to condemn those, so each of those change orders for those cisterns are now $3,650 apiece.”

Johansen said that although he had given the contractor a verbal OK, he and the contractor have had “ongoing disagreements” over the execution of the change orders as well as other matters. That included a “disagreement” over a tree on High Street and whether it was part of the property being demolished or “belonged to the city.” After it was determined that the tree was part of the property, Johansen said the contractor wants to issue another change order as he “has to hire an actual tree removal company,” even though the original bid included the removal of all trees. 

Both Johansen and Britton also pointed out that the second cistern located by the contractor was “probably half the size, if not even that,” of the first cistern but that the contractor quoted the same price for both removals.

“He’s just change ordered us to death, and I don't know whether we just tell him to leave and get somebody else or what we need to do,” Britton said.

Daniels said he felt they should grant some type of change orders for the cistern removals, since they were not identified, but “whether we want to negotiate a price or renegotiate a price, it's up to you. 

“We've got another month to negotiate a cheaper price, and I don't know how much cheaper we're going to get it for,” Daniels said.

Johansen said that he had a $1,900 quote for the East South Street property and thought the South High Street quote “wouldn’t be over $1,500” from that contractor. Daniels asked if they could award the work to a subcontractor, and Johansen said “the state would be OK with it” as far as he knew.

“We’ve never had that happen, but subcontractors do work all the time,” Johansen said. 

Daniels pointed out that aside from the tree, the original contractor has “completed his contract,” so the land bank shouldn’t have to “give him the higher amount of money for a cistern when we’ve got a cheaper bid.” Johansen said he would obtain some additional quotes for the cistern removals, and the board voted to authorize Johansen to accept the lowest bids for the work. 

For another issue involving a 2024-25 replacement project, Johansen discussed 413 West South Street, which had to be removed from the program, with the board approving a partial reimbursement to the property owner but denying a $1,000 request from the contractor.

Johansen said the contract stated that the work had to be completed by June 30, but the contractor “came to Hillsboro on June 29 to demolish that structure.

“The contractor went to the city and thought he could get a demo permit and just go over there and start knocking it down,” Johansen said. “It's a little bit more of a process than that. It can take up to 30 days for approval, and he told me that he originally thought he could have the house down and hauled away by June 30.

“On July 1, I received a call from the property owner who said he thought that the contract stated that he needed to demolish by June 30. I told him that he was right and explained the permit issue to him and said that we're trying to expedite the process with the city. The property owner then informed me that someone had called him and gave him an offer for the property, stating that they want to rehab the house.”

Since then, Johansen said the property owner has “a purchase agreement in place” and is no longer interested in the demolition.

“The contractor did get back his $500 bond with the city, and I believe his $50 permit as well, but the contractor is seeking a $1,000 mobilization fee for coming to the Hillsboro area and the property then being pulled from the program,” Johansen said. “The contract terms were over, but we originally thought we were still going to move forward with the demolition when he did show up to town. 

“ODOD is not going to reimburse this. We're not moving forward with the demo. We have a $386 asbestos survey into the property, and [the property owner] paid his match amount of $2,221.50. Of course, he's wanting that back.”
 
Johansen asked how the board wanted to proceed with reimbursing the contractor and/or the property owner, as well as whether they wanted to charge the property owner for the asbestos fee.  

Regarding the contractor, Britton said it was his “problem that he didn’t get his paperwork taken care of” prior to the demolition, “so I can’t see us paying $1,000 to this guy just because he made a mistake.” Daniels said he agreed.

“As far as the asbestos and all that, I think the homeowner has some responsibility here,” Britton said. 

The board voted to deduct the cost of the asbestos survey from the match amount paid by the property owner, with the remainder being returned to the property owner.

Also discussed by Johansen was another problem with a 2024-25 grant-funded demolition at a property owned by the land bank, as he said the sewer grinder at 10635 North Shore Road was damaged as a result of the work.

“We're hoping that it's just the lid,” Johansen said. “I reached out to Alex [Stratton] in the commissioners’ office, and she's putting in a work order so we can get that taken care of. It does look like it just was a brush cutter on the front of a front loader just hit it, realized and backed up. 

“We don't know the extent of that damage until it's looked at.”

The next project approval, this time for a 2026 project, was for a new contractor at 11428 Holiday Way in Hillsboro. The board approved the third bidder on the project, Paul Williams Trucking, after the original contractor had to step down and the second bidder declined to accept the work. 

Johansen explained that the original contractor completed five other demolitions with no issue, but on the Holiday Way parcel, the property owner “did not have the electric disconnected” while the contractor was in the area.

“He would like a $2,000 remobilization fee to the Highland County area,” Johansen said. “He's from Bellaire, which is three hours and 28 minutes away. The trailer is a $3,000 demo, so that would almost double our cost on that. 

“Todd and I did call the contractor, and we all mutually agreed that the land bank could move on to the second bidder with no repercussions or resentment.”

The board passed a motion to approve Paul Williams Wrecking as the demolition contractor in the amount of $3,980.
Johansen noted that this is an increase of $980 over the initial bid and asked the board if they wanted to assess an additional fee on the property owner, as they are required to pay a 25-percent match.

“I think Todd wasn’t in favor of that, of reaching back out,” Johansen said. “If you want me in the future to wait to receive payment until the demolition’s complete, we can do that, but this go-round, I reached out beforehand before the demolition took place and told them how much the bid was, what they owed, and got payment for it.”

Britton said they could “move forward” without asking for additional funds.

For another 2026 project matter, Johansen said the contractor at 6400 Roundhead Road in New Vienna “did not notify me that he was using a subcontractor to remove some stumps” at the site. 

“We're supposed to be notified of all subcontractors that are being used, so that we can vet them or at least know about them, ensure that they're paid before we pay the contractor, which is stated in our contract,” Johansen said. 

Due to the number of issues the land bank is seeing with various contractors, Britton said they 
“need to vet these guys a little better somehow,” or Daniels suggested that it could be an issue with the contract wording that their legal counsel needs to look into. 

“We definitely need to talk about change orders,” Johansen said. “Those 15 properties we want to put out for bid aren't ready yet, aren't approved by ODOD, but I'm going to put together the the bid documents, and I want the board to review those before the August meeting.

“It's already together. It just all of these issues need addressed into the contract so that we don't have to deal with them.”

As suggested at the June 26 special meeting, Britton added that a pre-bid meeting may also help clarify some of these matters.

In other discussion:

• Johansen said that calls to a property owner involved in the Brownfield Remediation Grant program have gone “unanswered for months,” in a followup to discussions at the board’s June meeting.

In June, Johansen told the board they may be running into an issue getting access to the former East Main Street gas staton in Hillsboro, as the property owner indicated he had changed his mind about participating in the program after the state awarded a $222,666 grant for assessment work.

“We have spent $120,000 in assessments there already,” Johansen said. “We've acquired an additional $200,000 in assessment work as it was determined that the site was dirty, very dirty, and contamination was running off the backside of the property. 

“If we can't get him to participate, we can't force him to. We've spoke to Todd. We spoke to Lauren [Walker, city of Hillsboro representative on the land bank board]. There's  really nothing that we can do other than him willingly being a part of the program, accepting $300,000 worth of work on his property.”

Another possible option, which Johansen said was suggested to him by environmental consultant Matt Wagner of Tetra Tech, was to hold a “special meeting” and invite the property owner and neighboring property owners to explain the grant program. 

• Johansen told the land bank board that 127 Paint Street and 126 Smith Street in Greenfield are potential options for additional demolition grant funds.

“An adjacent neighbor wants to purchase these properties and wanted to give them to the land bank in exchange for us, of course, clearing the taxes, cleaning them up, and doing what we do with them,” Johansen said. “He didn't want it back. He then found out about the demolition program and the 25-percent match, and so he decided that he would just  purchase and pay off the taxes, put it into the demo program and retain ownership of the property. 

“They want some sort of agreement in place that says that they purchase and that will put them into the demo program. We can't promise that because we need approval from the state, and so if we promise something like that, it's not approved by the state, and then we're stuck paying it.”

Britton agreed, saying that such an agreement “opens up another whole can of worms,” although the land bank “can put them on the list, just like everybody else,” as a possible applicant.

• Johansen gave an update on a .05-acre parcel on North West Street, which he said in June has been forfeited to the state after tax foreclosure and two failed attempts at sheriff’s sales. During that meeting, the land bank agreed to acquire the parcel through the state’s forfeited land list and work toward selling it to its adjacent neighbor, who is interested in purchasing the property through the land bank’s side lot program. 

“The property is not quite in our name,” Johansen said. “[The neighbor] went ahead and had a survey done on his property and also included ours, so they are getting two new legal descriptions for each of those parcels, and so I'm just seeking authority kind of ahead of time, as we're going to have this property in our name. Between now and the next meeting, I want to be able to facilitate these transfers with new legal descriptions.

“We do have to notify one other adjacent owner of this parcel, but Lauren has expressed that they would have no interest in that piece of property.”

Daniels said as long as Johansen receives “confirmation from the other neighbor,” he made the motion to allow Johansen to move forward with that transfer.

• Johansen told the board that three properties owned by the land bank — 11923 Elmhurst Trail, 10635 North Shore Road and 11410 Cathy’s Court in Hillsboro — have been cleared through the demolition program and are ready to sell.

“I would like to move forward with selling them, but I would like to wait to the August meeting, so I can have a solid price point for each one of these properties,” Johansen said. “I want to do some additional research on the land that's surrounding there, and then I think to really get a lot of attraction, I think it would be good to sell all of these, maybe at the same time, in the same advertisements.”

For 21 South Fairfield Street in Leesburg, for which the land bank became receiver through court proceedings, Johansen said it will be likely sold at auction, or it “can be transferred to the land bank in satisfaction of the receiver’s fees.” 

• The board awarded an asbestos abatement project to Industrial Insulation Specialists in the amount of $6,750 for work at 6490 Lucas Lane, 10831 state Route 72 and 13094 Barrett Mill Road, all of which are among the 2026 Building Demolition & Site Revitalization Grant Program applicants. 

• Richard Counter of Greenfield asked for an update on blighted parcels on Taylor Street in Madison Township, about which he has been contacting land bank officials since 2021, and expressed his disdain for the lack of progress.

As previously reported, it was announced in October that the Highland County Treasurer’s office had issued 30-day notices for property owners of seven parcels for which the HCLRC is attempting to purchase the tax liens.

The seven parcels include three on Taylor Street in Greenfield; one on Highland Hills Drive in Hillsboro (Rocky Fork Lake area); and three on U.S. 62 in Leesburg (Samantha area).
 
Johansen and the board members told Counter that the tax liens have recently been purchased by the land bank, and Counter asked what the next steps are. 

“After the lien’s purchased, the property owner has so long to pay up or not,” Daniels said.

He added that it should have been “in front of the court by now,” but as Johansen pointed out, this process is all new to the land bank, and Britton said that they have to follow the laws that “are always leaning toward the taxpayer to give them the time.”

“The county has afforded them plenty of time,” Counter said. “I don’t know why the county, Highland County as a whole, doesn’t sit back and look at back taxes.”

Daniels said that the county is “doing what we can” by working with NAR Ohio on purchasing tax liens. Board member and county treasurer Vickie Warnock said the county is also working on “at least two active foreclosures” for properties due to delinquent tax.

“I'm glad to hear you got two,” Counter said.

“I’m not disagreeing with you, Dick,” Warnock said. “I will say that it is a longer process than what I had originally thought, but I will agree with you to a point.

“That is why we tried to go with this other company, and I will say that I kind of fought it a little bit because it is something completely new for the county. The same thing with doing it with the land bank, it is something completely new, trying to learn the process, trying to learn everything that needs to be done, and make sure that we're doing it and doing it legally and correctly, because nobody wants anybody coming back on them and saying this isn't how it should been done.”

Warnock continued that “it is a learning process” for the land bank and county to follow all the legal requirements. 

Britton also pointed out that many properties — approximately 178, according to Warnock — have owners on a contract to pay off their back taxes. 

“By law, we have to give them at least one contract,” Warnock said.

Daniels said “there needs to be a more coordinated effort than just the prosecutor moving one, or the treasurer moving on,” properties with back taxes, while also working with the land bank and county auditor.

“There's never been that broad conversation about how all four of these entities are supposed to work together, and we're just now starting to have it because we recognize we've got probably $4.5 million out on delinquent taxes that we ought to be collecting,” Daniels said.

• The board approved the financial report as presented. Johansen reported a beginning balance of $394,672.49 and an ending balance of $395,658.90, with a forecasted balance of $448,588.99 counting pending reimbursements and uncleared checks.

In a separate motion, the board approved the payment of outstanding bills totaling $47,837.08, including payments for mowing, salary and reimbursements, rent, legal fees, taxes and ongoing grant-funded contractor work on demolition and brownfield projects.

• The board authorized a request from Johansen to forward calls from the land bank landline to the land bank cell phone. 

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