Demolition of a blighted Medaryville home has finally begun. Building Inspector Doug Hoover gave an update to the Pulaski County Commissioners Monday. “I’m happy to say that we did get started today,” he said. “maybe not as much as I’d like to have seen done.”
As of Thursday, crews were still working, according to Building Department Assistant Karla Kreamer. Demolition is expected to wrap up today.
But Hoover said there are still a few more steps, before the project is finalized. “There’s still the fill-in and all that, and the paperwork and all that,” he told the commissioners. “But at least it’s started, and that’s the main thing. We got ’till December 20 to get all the paperwork stuff done and that kind of stuff.”
The project is part of a blight elimination grant from the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority. Once it’s done, the land will be donated to Starke/Pulaski Habitat for Humanity to potentially build a new home on the site.
For that to happen, Kreamer told the commissioners that a slight oversight would have to be corrected. “I went to get the mortgage recorded, and they had discovered that there was no deed transfer from you to the Habitat for Humanity,” she said. “And I can’t get the mortgage recorded until we do a quitclaim deed, and the IHCDA won’t process any claims on our side until we’ve got a quitclaim deed transferred.” The commissioners voted to allow County Attorney Kevin Tankersley to transfer the deed.
The project has faced numerous delays over the past seven months, first as Hoover worked to get the proper documentation for the various state agencies, then as the demolition contractor reportedly had to deal with a disgruntled employee.
