MANSFIELD — The Mansfield Fire Department was given the OK to purchase five parcels of land on East Third Street, Willis Avenue and Park Avenue East.
During its regular meeting Tuesday, Mansfield council approved two pieces of legislation that authorize the safety-service director to purchase property located at 124 E. 3rd St., as well as three parcels of land on Willis Avenue and one parcel located on Park Avenue East for the fire department. The total cost of said purchases amounts to $8,000.
Mansfield Fire Chief Steve Strickling said the department uses the lot on East Third Street to park its trucks and that the owner has been wanting to sell that property.
“In order to create less headaches for us, and eliminate some of his headaches, and give us a place to put snow and park trucks, we wanted to get that plot of land,” he said.
On the west side of Fire Station 1 sits one of the five parcels that’s fairly substantial in size.
“Our plan for that particular parcel is we want to put a building on that for storage for some of our equipment for the mechanic shop and also for the city’s maintenance department,” Strickling said.
The building would also house a tire-changing operation, he said.
Strickling guessed construction would cost between $100,000 and $150,000, which will be budgeted for next year.
The three other parcels would need cleaned up. Strickling said neighbors have voiced concerns about the properties’ appearance.
“Hopefully we can work with the city on that and we can get a dozer or something to clean those up,” he said.
Third Ward Councilman Jon Van Harlingen asked about a purchase agreement and if there would be any other costs associated with acquiring the properties.
“Without some kind of purchase agreement or sales contract, I don’t have a clue where we’re going with this,” he said.
Strickling said the title search has been completed and paid for and that the law department is working on obtaining the signed purchase agreements.
“Those haven’t been signed at this point,” he said. “We have the agreed upon prices, and we have not set a closing date yet, but that will probably be within the next couple of weeks.”
He said the closing costs are relatively minimal and that he has the funds to support them.
In other business, council approved an ordinance amendment that prohibits the parking of non-motorized accessories of vehicles in front of residential properties.
“We basically just want to take care of what could be a problem,” Van Harlingen said.
Assistant Police Chief Keith Porch said once a complaint is lodged, the police will make every attempt to find the owner and ask that he or she move the accessory. Towing is a last resort, he said.
Council also approved the appropriation of funds to pay for asbestos clean-up at Ocie Hill. The total cost of the clean-up amounted to $25,205.61, with $15,915 going to Cardinal Environmental Services and $9,290.61 going to Chem-Tech Consultants, Inc. for their services.
Additionally, council approved the appropriation of $552,856 for planned demolitions.
