North Vernon’s devastated Fifth Street area has now been put on notice: The clean-up is on its way., Staff photo by Barbara King
North Vernon's devastated Fifth Street area has now been put on notice: The clean-up is on its way.
Thus spoke the City Council Monday night, Feb. 9 as they voted unanimously to engage Harmon Construction, Inc. to manage the block-long clean-up with the goal of having the work completed by the end of 2015.
Leading what only can be described as the massive task is Ardell Mitchell, a 25-year veteran of the local company.
Mitchell submitted a formal proposal to the Council based on both Harmon's and his experience with the company.
"I understand the challenges of large scale demolition," said the man who supervised the demolition of the old Indianapolis airport terminal.
Not only is he knowledgeable about the various permitting procedures required for the task, but he also understands how to work with government entities as his former job with state government and his current role of president of the Crothersville Town Council attests.
"It was logical to us we could bring value to the table," he told this newspaper.
Mitchell has already met with Fifth Street fire zone property owners Larry Hatton, Dave MacCormick and Gina and Howard Clarkson who are willing and ready to work with him. He asked each one "point blank" if they want to sell or do something with their property.
All of their properties have been declared total losses.
Each one said it was not feasible to rebuild.
Mitchell's personal goal is to have the properties cleaned up by the end of 2015.
He has also talked to Donna Bowling, who owns the two properties just off the corner of Fifth on Buckeye, both of which sustained fire, smoke and/or water damage.
Another property owner, Corinne Finnerty, was present at the meeting on another matter. She told the Council she is still considering whether to try and save the three-story building she owns directly adjacent to Hatton's building that collapsed. There are some issues with the stability of the wall directly facing the collapse.
The other two buildings where her law practice is housed suffered damage, too. Finnerty has found she "can't get the smell out of our buildings because of all the ash blowing around" next door.
And, she was perfectly clear on the clean-up, saying she was "happy the mayor has taken the lead on the clean-up.
The devastated area, she said, "is a constant source of release of bad substances." When it rains, pollutants run off and end up in the wastewater plant.
"On a long term basis, I don't want to conduct business with what's next door. It is a real daily aggravation."
Mayor Harold Campbell and Clerk-treasurer Shawn Gerkin explained that with all their day-to-day responsibilities, they do not have the time or the expertise to manage the scope of this massive clean-up.
Councilor Brian Hatfield spoke for the board, saying, "I think we need someone to drive the bus. If there's anything we can do to speed up the process, I'm all for it."
The Council agreed and voted to hire Mitchell as the project manager.
The scope of work proposed include property acquisition; establishment of initial funding/contractual relationships; property acquisition/easements; environmental testing/discovery; survey/locates; exploratory digging; design; finalize funding and contracts/subcontracts for actual work; permitting; (state, INDOT and JC APC); on-site inspection/oversight; temporary stabilization of street/sidewalks/utilities; environmental clean-up; salvage of historic and unique items; recycling; general clean-up; demolition/haul off/disposal; building repairs; backfill; permanent stabilization; site finishes; hard surface/ seeding/erosion control; barricades/ accessibility.
Finally, turning over the site for future redevelopment.
Cost of the management is estimated at $56,802.40, which includes the project manager (284 hours); superintendent (320 hours); accounting (22 hours); and safety (8 hours).
"I will consider all the angles," said Mitchell as he considered his new task. "I owe that to the city and the community to not discount anything without giving it some review."
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