Knox Mayor Dennis Estok told the Knox City Council members last week that there may be a problem when it comes to the demolition of the Knox Moose Lodge building.
The city was awarded almost $138,000 in federal Community Development Block Grant money through the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs Blight Clearance Program to demolish the Knox Moose Lodge building on Main Street.
OCRA says the Moose Lodge demolition will also include the removal of about 6,900 square feet of asbestos-containing floor tile and 5,100 square feet of asbestos-containing tile adhesive. The city’s share of the cost is over $15,000.
The Knox Board of Works members opened demolition bids earlier this year and awarded the bid to Mark Milo who submitted the lowest bid. Mayor Estok told the council that the State recently released the funds for the project, but the contractor will not sign the contract due to a delay in a federal requirement of a SAM registration and SAM number and the late release of the funds for the project. The deadline to sign the contract was Tuesday, April 26.
Estok added that there are several municipalities having issues with the SAM process as there is a glitch in the system. Estok stated OCRA did give the city a waiver, but the contractor will not sign the documents.
The project will likely be re-bid.
