Vandalia City Seal/ CC Vandalia Radio News
VANDALIA, IL -(Effingham Radio)- A possible solution to fixing a downtown Vandalia wall led to somewhat heated discussion for a small time during Monday night’s Vandalia City Council meeting.
During the Council Member Announcement portion of the meeting, alderman Steve Barker presented a sample of material that he and other council members had found that would provide a viable solution to fixing the wall at 507 W. Gallatin Street for about half the cost of the bid turned into the council via a TIF application from Dennis Grubaugh recently.
The product is a brick surface over a type of foam that is mortared in and can be tuckpointed just like normal brick.
And when asked about stabilizing the roof, Barker said that would be taken care of and the tying in of joists would be the only thing not done by the company as he thought Grubaugh would want to do that part himself to which Grubaugh stated he wanted to do the whole project himself.
And Grubaugh questioned why the city would want to bring in a separate contractor to fix his wall when they just approved a TIF agreement for concrete repair on Justin Durbin’s building at 101 S. 5th Street by the contractor of his choice.
And, Grubaugh was questioned if he could do the work on the wall for the same square foot price that the contractor was doing Durbin’s building.
Further discussing the cost, Mayor Rick Gottman stated that the city does not have the money to give Grubaugh to fix it the way he wants to while Lester stated he just wants to do what is best for the city.
Following discussion, the city moved into closed session to discuss other council matters.
