With four major projects finally starting to move forward at the same time, the Council has held five meetings in March, including two this past week, to take care of business.

The Asbestos Abatement and Removal Project, more commonly called the Williams House Demolition Project, topped the agenda on Tuesday evening.

The building is owned by the county but the Town applied for a $201,000 grant and is overseeing the project on behalf of the county.

At one meeting last week, the Council accepted bids for the job from four companies.

After consulting with Greene County officials, the Council accepted the bid from MLE Enterprises. MLE is a Greene County firm with offices in Bloomfield. They had submitted the lowest bid of $146,700 to perform the demolition work.

The Council voted on Tuesday to officially award the contract to MLE.

Council President Hal Harp said there will now be some more paperwork to complete but they now expect the actual demolition work to begin in two to three weeks.

"IDEM (Indiana Department of Environmental Management) has to have 10 days notice to issue a permit and then the work can begin. We're hoping that the demolition will start around April 7," said Harp.

Harp estimated the demolition crew will be working on the site for about two weeks.

Once the site is cleared, Harp noted many will be able to breathe a sigh of relief and there are no particular future plans for the site.

"We have been discussing with the county how we'll finish the lot, but that dirt is going to have to settle for awhile. We're not looking for anything to develop there for a couple of years," said Harp.

At yet another meeting on Wednesday, the Council signed a construction engineering / inspection contract with Clark-Dietz, Inc. of Indianapolis who will provide required services during the upcoming Worthington Streetscape / Downtown Renovation Project.

The green lights are on for the project to be completed this summer but INDOT is handling the acceptance and awarding of construction bids.

"We know that INDOT (Indiana Department of Transportation) has accepted bids and they have awarded the contract to O'Meara Construction so it's getting close. We're really glad that the Williams House is going to be taken care of before this starts. I'm hoping the construction will start on this downtown renovation in late May or early June," said Harp.

Construction is expected to take a couple of months and Harp said if all goes well, it should be completed by the end of August.

The future sewer utility and storm water drainage study was also on the agenda of the Wednesday meeting.

The Council had previously accepted bids from eight companies interested in providing engineering and planning services for the study. Those bids were discussed and rated and the three firms with the highest ratings were invited to the Wednesday meeting for interviews with the Council.

Representatives from all three were present and made presentations to the Council detailing their qualifications for the job.

"The meeting took about two hours, but now we've selected the firm of Hannum, Wagle and Cline. They have offices in Terre Haute and Indianapolis. Now SIDC (Southern Indiana Development Corporation can go forward with the grant request for this project," said Harp.

The Town has also given the nod to the Southern Indiana Development Commission (SIDC) to apply for a Housing Rehabilitation Grant to benefit low-income residents who own houses in need of repairs and updates.