MANSFIELD — Mansfield City Council voted Tuesday to pay $7,097.50 payment for curb and sidewalk installation at the corner of Marion Avenue and Benton Street.
The then-and-now certificate authorized payment to the Richland County Land Bank to cover half of the total bill for the work, completed at 80 Marion Ave.
Council is asked to approve “then-and-now” certificates when work is contracted before a purchase order is signed.
Lawmakers in the past have expressed concerns over such requests, but approved Tuesday’s contract 8-0.
80 Marion Avenue is the site of a former gas station the Land Bank agreed to demolish in 2023 for $61,160, fully funded by Ohio Department of Development demolition grant funds.
The land bank approved a $43,650 demolition contract for the property with Flenner Water Well and Excavating Service in April.
But the demolition agreement didn’t include curbs and sidewalks — which the city of Mansfield typically has done in demolitions it oversees.
Local officials characterized the situation — which lead to an unauthorized bill for an additional $16,000 of curb and sidewalk work — as a misunderstanding between the land bank, the city and the contractor.
“We had multiple people help this not work well,” at-large councilman David Falquette said.
Curb work was completed without a purchase order on land bank demolition
In a meeting on Aug. 6, land bank board members voted to approve splitting the cost with the city.
During that meeting, executive director Amy Hamrick said the land bank asked Marc Milliron, Mansfield’s chief building official, to meet with Flenner and discuss the city’s sidewalk zoning requirements in June.
“During the discussion, they brought up adding curbs to the scope of work,” Hamrick told the land bank board.
“(Milliron) called me and asked me if there’s room in the budget. I had told him, ‘No, we only had about $200 left in the budget for 80 Marion Avenue.'”
Mansfield Mayor Jodie Perry, who sits on the land bank board, said Milliron asked Flenner for an estimate and Flenner completed the work instead. Then he sent the land bank an invoice for nearly $16,000 without a change order or prior approval.
Hamrick told land bank members last month Flenner had rejected a proposal to split the cost of the work three ways, but agreed to reduce the invoice by $1,500. At the land bank meeting, he pointed out that he’d also done some extra work not previously outlined in the agreement, including removing trees.
Perry said if Flenner had provided an estimate, city lawmakers likely would have approved it.
“When we’re demoing a piece of property, we want it to get back to a useful stage, not end up with a spot where there’s not a curb and sidewalk,” she said.
“This likely would have been something that we did, but it should have gone through the proper channels.”
“The land bank has firmed up some language and is reviewing that with all their contractors, so this should not happen again,” she added.