LaCROFT - Liverpool Township officials received confirmation that the dilapidated structure at 2017 Dewey Ave. will soon be torn down..
"This has been a long process, but as far as we know the building should be torn down by next meeting," Trustee Keith Burke said. "It looks like it is going to be finally demolished."
The next regularly scheduled township meeting is set for Dec. 15 and Burke said, tentatively, the razing process should begin later next week, but weather can play a factor on how early the demolition can be completed.
Volunteer Fire Chief Mike Bahen has been assisting Burke in the process of reaching the Canadian owner as well and sorting through the safety problems on the property.
Bahen said he received payment for the demolition costs from Maynor and Eva Gonzalez, the Canadian owners.
"We have received a check for it," Burke said, adding that they are just waiting for the razing crew to schedule a time and take down what's left of the home.
The check came after some miscommunication in October about a possible deed switch on the property.
At a township meeting Oct. 6, Burke said he received word that George J. Davis' name appeared on the deed. Davis is a homeowner on Dewey Avenue.
However, Burke said he was told by Davis that his name wrongfully appeared on the deed. But according to the conveyance form, obtained by The Review, Maynor and Eva Gonzalez, the former Canadian owners of the Dewey Avenue property, granted Davis the deed last month and the form stated Davis paid $11,500 cash for the property.
The document, dated Sept. 2, 2008, is signed, but a representative at the Columbiana County Auditor's office said she was unsure if it was Davis' signature since the form can be signed by the grantee or a representative of the grantee. No printed name is provided next to the signature.
On the Quit-Claim Deed form, obtained at the Columbiana County Recorder's Office, the Gonzalez's granted two parcels, the 2017 Dewey Ave. property and another land property on the roadway to Davis. That form is signed by both Maynor and Eva and is dated Aug. 22.
The deed form is notarized by Sandra L. Tillier in Alberta, Canada and it was examined and stamped for transfer by Columbiana County Auditor Nancy Milliken on Sept. 23.
A month previous to the October deed confusion, Burke announced he was in talks with Gonzalez who reported a possible deed switch was in the works.
But, according to Burke, the deed transfer confusion was straightened out between the two parties and the Canadian owners took responsibility in working with the township to demolish the building.
The property at Dewey Ave. has been a concern of the county and township officials for over a year.
Last summer, the health board declared the dilapidated structure uninhabitable and in May the Liverpool Township trustees began the boarding process. Additional safety concerns were brought up at a health board meeting in September, where a grandmother raised concerns regarding an open cistern on the property which posed a safety hazard with her grandchildren that lived nearby.
