Muncie city officials in hot water over cost of apartment demolition.
A lawsuit has been filed over the most costly demolition undertaken by the city of Muncie in recent history.
The city paid a contractor $46,406 last year for the demolition of a vacant, unsafe apartment building in the 400 block of East Adams Street, behind the former downtown fire station and the Delaware County ambulance headquarters. When it added on landfill disposal costs, administrative fees and civil penalties imposed by the unsafe building hearing authority, the city in June demanded total payment of $62,353 from the building’s owners, Joseph E. Jackson Jr. and Beverly Jackson.
“That’s the most expensive demolition we’ve ever done,” said Gretchen Cheesman, director of the authority. “We could tear down six to eight houses with that money (the $62,353 the city is trying to collect).”
But the city might not receive a dime.
The Jacksons, whom city officials identified as the owners of Advanced Commercial Roofing, have filed a lawsuit asking Delaware Circuit Court 1 Judge Marianne Vorhees to declare the city’s July 23, 2008, order to demolish the building “null, void and contrary to law.”
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