Staff Writer

The city of Troy is taking yet another step to eliminate eyesores.

Tuesday night, the Troy City Council took action to proceed with demolishing the building at 116 Gable Street because of its state of disrepair.

In April, city officials announced intentions to get rid of dilapidated buildings and, since then, some have indeed come down.

Earlier this year, the Troy City Council adopted Article 2 of the Code of Alabama that outlines removing unsafe buildings.

At that time, Troy Mayor Jimmy Lunsford said "it was always a problem with us," to find ways to clean up dangerous eyesores.

But, two years of work has paid off in giving the city authority to do something if the property owner won’t.

Lunsford has pledged "to be very, very aggressive in pursuing this" action.

The first step in the process is determining whether a building is unsafe, followed by sending notification to the owner.

If the property owner does not respond to the letter or file a written appeal within 30 days upon notice, the city will demolish the building and assess the cost against the property. That money will be collected by the Pike County revenue commissioner the same as an ad valorem tax and will be remitted to the city. City officials will also post a notice on the structure within three days of the notice.

Filing a request for a hearing will result in the city holding off its actions until a determination by the city council states the building should be destroyed. If no appeal is filed, the council has to order the building official to remove the structure.

The building official will then take bids for the demolition and it will be awarded as required by state code.

If the owner has not taken any action after the bid has been awarded the building official will give the contractor the go ahead after 10 days.

In other business, the council:

· Annexed 80 acres belonging to Robert Sellers into the city limits. The property was contiguous to the existing city limits.

· Tabled action on an on/off premise retail beer license to Captain D’s until a representative of the restaurant addresses the council.

· Passed a resolution for the application of a law enforcement block grant.

Troy Police Chief Anthony Everage said this is the third year the department has applied for the funds, which it has gotten in the past.

The $17,420 grant will require a $1,936 match for a total of $19,356.

Last year, computer equipment was purchased with the money.

"We sort of use this to fill in the gaps," Everage said of how the grant money is used to buy equipment.

· Passed a resolution recognizing Sept. 20 as National Undoing Racism Day.