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Andrews council gets MHP clean-up efforts

The Andrews Town Council received an update on clean-up efforts at Antioch Mobile Home Park at its meeting on Monday, Jan. 13.

Marla Stambazze, of the Huntington Countywide Department of Community Development, reported that another weathered mobile home, along with an accompanying deck, had been removed from the park, which is located at 200 Wabash Ave. There are two more homes that still need to be removed, said Stambazze, per the DCD order of enforcement that has been hanging over the property since last July.

At council’s previous meeting on Dec. 30, it decided to take over the clean-up of the property, as Brian Salerno, the managing member of park owner Antioch MHP LLC, had failed to comply with the order of enforcement by that date, which was the deadline set by council. As a result, the board directed Stambazze to gather bids for the demolition and removal of the remaining homes listed in the order.

Stambazze presented four bids to council. While one bid broke down the cost associated with removing each remaining home, the other three bids were not as specific and stated the price for the removal of three homes. As Salerno had taken out a home since the bids were generated, Stambazze noted that the latter three bids no longer reflected the work that needed to be done. As a result, council decided to have Stambazze gather updated bids.

Councilmember John Harshbarger, who was named council president at the meeting, remarked to Salerno that this bought him more time to complete the clean-up process on his terms. Harshbarger noted, however, that if the remaining work was not completed by council’s next meeting, Monday, Jan. 27, that the board would open the updated bids at that time and take over the clean-up of the property once more. If that happens, the town will have the work completed, then bill Antioch MHP LLC.

On another matter, Harshbarger delivered an update on efforts to bring a Dollar General store to town. The primary objective the town must accomplish, he said, is have a wastewater line installed to the store, which would be located near the intersection of Ind.-105 and U.S.-24.

As of the meeting, Harshbarger stated that his calls to businesses that could install the line had gone unreturned. The most daunting aspect of the project, he said, was that it would involve boring underneath the Wabash River in order to get the line over to the town’s wastewater treatment plant. An alternative approach, said Harshbarger, would be to hang the line next to the bridge that crosses the river.