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Regular Council Meeting January 23, 2012 Page 3 1454 Commission, review by the Building and Standards Commission, response from property owners and publication of Building and Standard Commission orders. Mr. Anderson reported that 301 Bonham Street was presented to the Historical Preservation Commission on August 23, 2010 and also again on September 8, 2010. After the September 8t' meeting, it was forwarded to the Building and Standards Commission for its consideration on September 20, 2010. At that time, the Commission gave the owners ninety days to repair or demolish the structure. On December 20, 2010, the ninety days expired and after that deadline code enforcement contacted the owners about their plans for the building. The owner stated at that time that he could not afford to demolish or repair the building and also stated that he had been contact with Cecil Fambrough of the Texas Department of Health and that the building contained asbestos. The owner said this fact prohibited him personally from attempting any type of cleanup and that Mr. Fambrough told him that only a licensed asbestos handler could abate the structure. Sometime after that the owner contacted Jack Morrow of TASCO Abatement to get an estimate on removal of the asbestos, who told him that the N.E.S.H.A.P. method could not be used. Code enforcement again met with the owner to find out what he was going to do about the abatement and at that point, the owner told code enforcement that he would be willing to sell the building because he could not afford to demolish or repair the building. Code enforcement passed that information on to the Main Street Director and she inquired of other downtown property owners if they would be interested in purchasing the building. No one was interested in purchasing the property in its current state. Code enforcement was instructed to get an estimate of what it would cost to clean up the property and they were given a rough bid in the amount of $72,000 in May of 2011. In August 2011 the Texas Supreme Court ruled in a case Stewart v. The City of Dallas that city boards like the City's Building and Standards Commission were not a proper authority for the condemnation and demolition of private property. Mr. Anderson said that City Attorney Kent McIlyar informed code enforcement that it they should put a hold on any demolition orders already sent to contractors by the Building and Standards Commission. On January 16, 2012 the building on Bonham Street collapsed and at that point, the City crews were called in to remove the debris out of the street and back up to the property, and to secure the property and protect the public interest. The Texas Department of Health was contacted and they provided the City an emergency declaration number, which would allow the City to take swifter action in abating that building and demolishing that building, essentially by- passing the usual permitting requirements and timeframe. There was a deadline to take that action and that deadline was January 23rd. Mr. Anderson reported that he reviewed the financial records for 2010 -2011 and it revealed that the budget for structure demolition was $80,000. Mr. Anderson reported that as of December 20, 2010, the City had spent $44,200.30 of that budget leaving a balance in that account of $35,764. Mr. Anderson also said there was additional money in the amount of $75,000 in an account for the related sanitation fees and if the two funds had been combined there would have been enough money to demolish that building. He said that would have severely depleted the City's funds for any other needed demolitions that were already scheduled. Street was in immediate danger of collapse. Mr. Anderson said the City had been active in addressing the problem of dilapidated structures in recent years, in that in the last five years the City had torn down 303 structures, including Casa Bonita and Three Oaks and spent one million five - hundred twenty- thousand dollars in accomplishing those demolitions. He said the City should have secured the Bonham