Beulaville town board moves forward with demolition of abandoned house

BEULAVILLE — During the regular monthly meeting on Monday, July 2, the Beulaville Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to move forward with the demolition of an abandoned house at 406 W. Church St.

The board has been discussing the house for several months, with Beulaville citizen Nanette Outlaw appearing at each meeting to inquire about progress on the house. Town Manager Lori Williams reported that the family that owns the property refused a certified letter, and there was also no response to an ad regarding the property that ran for two weeks in the newspaper.

“We’ve exhausted all means of contacting the family by telephone calls, letters, notices in the paper,” Williams said. “We’ve not had any response. At this point, the town has done all we can do.”

At last month’s meeting, Williams reported that the town would move forward with getting quotes on the demolition and clean-up of the property. Public Works Director Ricky Raynor received one estimate for $10,750 from East Coast Emergency Response Service, and another for $6,500 from Rivenbark Construction.

“I don’t see any point in kicking the can down the road,” Commissioner Gene Wickline stated before motioning that the town move forward on the $6,500 quote.

The motion was approved unanimously, with Williams stating that she would follow up with Rivenbark Construction and determine an estimated timeline for the demolition and cleanup.

In other business at last Monday’s meeting, the board held two closeout public hearings on CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) funding that the town received in 2020.

Josh Outlaw with Floyd Adams Co. made the presentations to the board, reporting first on the completed CDBG-NR project for neighborhood revitalization.

“The town was originally funded $750,000 in CDBG-NR for neighborhood revitalization funds,” Outlaw stated. “An additional $65,000 was requested and received, totaling $815,000 in total grant money. The proposed project was to rehabilitate four homes. After bidding and awarding all four homes, unfortunately one home requested to opt out so we ended up only working on three homes.”

The final total was $661,127 in CDBG funds that were expended, with $153,873 de-obligated due to the one house dropping out at the last minute.

“The closeout documents will be submitted to the Department of Commerce after you’ve adopted the meeting minutes,” Outlaw explained, adding that if more homes qualify for CDBG funding, another round of funding will be coming up in the fall.

A second closeout public hearing was held on the 2020 CDBG-CV grant, which was Covid funding, Outlaw said. “The town was originally funded $900,000. The project included $600,000 in a rehabilitation public budget line item to renovate the second story of town hall for use by a local food bank, along with $210,000 in public services money to provide rental and utility assistance for low-income residents and to purchase a vehicle for the food bank, along with $90,000 in grant administration budget,” he explained. “The final project included $740,000 in neighborhood facilities, $69,991.07 in public services for rental and utility assistance, $87,000 in administration. Total grant funds expended was $896,991.07.”

In other business at the July 2 meeting:

• Cole Williams with McDavid Associates gave an update on a water line the firm is working on. “We’re going to rebid that project on the 23rd,” he said. “We only had two bidders this time around. We need three to operate.” He added that the town has been approved for $602,500, which includes cleaning the line, CCTV and smoke testing. “In this case, they’re combining those grants. This will be enough to do the entire sewer system,” he said.
• The board approved the funding offer, approved the resolution to accept the offer and perform the project, and approved the professional engineering services procurement.
• Gwen Mercer, who appeared before the board last month to discuss a road closure, stated that she wanted to see the board take some action on the closure. Mayor Hutch Jones told her that the board had not understood that she wanted them to take action at last month’s meeting, and that she would need to get on the agenda for the next meeting.
• The town board approved an agreement for engineering services with Stroud Engineering.
• The commissioners also approved a Golden Leaf grant acknowledgment and agreement.
• A three-year mowing contract for $2,900 a month with Atlantic Coast Land, LLC was approved.
• Police Chief Karl Mobley reported that the police department is at full staff now, and has had a couple of larceny investigations over the past month.
• Mayor Jones told the board he’d like for them to discuss hurricane preparedness in the near future, stating that Hurricane Florence in 2018 “was an eye opener for all of us.” He asked that the department heads let the board know of any immediate emergency needs.

The Beulaville town board will next meet on Aug. 5 at 6:30 p.m. in Town Hall.