City to pay for Landry Street house demolition

Mayor Rodney Grogan was given unanimous City Council approval Monday to enter a contract with the owners of a Landry Street house to hire a contractor to finish the demolition and removal of the collapsed structure.
Debra Mills lives next door to the property and said she is one of the owners of the house located at 106 Landry Street. The house belonged to her father who recently passed away, she said. The family savings were exhausted in burying her family and they have no financial means to complete the demolition of the property, she said. Mills said she was in agreement with the city finding a third-party contractor to do the work.
Grogan said he met with the owners, Mills and Nicholas Daigle, Thursday to work out an arrangement to get what he called an “eyesore” cleaned up. The city obtained three estimates from private contractors to do the work, which ranged from $4,200 to $5,500.
The demolition agreement presented to the council at a special called meeting Thursday afternoon stated the house “has been damaged by fire, it has collapsed, and is in dilapidated and dangerous condition which endangers the public welfare.”
Grogan said the work to finish removing the debris could begin in the next couple of days.
Grogan said the city will put a lien on the property once the work has been completed to protects its interest and make sure it gets reimbursed the expenses.
The city has the authority under state law to demand the completion of the demolition and removal of debris. If the city were to initiate such an action, it would result in a lien being placed on the property for all the associated costs and if the lien were not fully satisfied the city could seize and sell the property, according to the document.
In order to avert such action, the city and the owners agreed to allow the city to contract with a third party to get the work done and then the owners would reimburse the city within an agreed time frame.
City attorney Russel Cremaldi said that while a public body is not allowed to lend money, “this is probably valid (because) … I don’t see this as lending money.” He mentioned that an auditor might question the agreement in the annual audit.
Alan Taylor, the certified public accountant that has done the city’s audits for many years, said, “At this point, I have not been contacted by the city on this matter. … It will receive the necessary attention in the course of our work” when the annual audit is done.
Grogan said, "We are depending on the advice of our attorney in this matter to make sure we are doing it correctly."
The council also agreed to authorize the sale of a 2002 Bobcat excavator. Steve Bierhorst, public works director, said the city purchased a new piece of heavy equipment to replace the Bobcat and would have liked to trade the old one in, but was unable to do so because of the way the new equipment was purchased.
The business that sold the city its new equipment indicated it would have offered between $6,800 and $7,000. The equipment is subject to Louisiana’s public bid requirements because its value is over $5,000.