Wheeling City Manager Robert Herron and Mayor Denny Magruder, from left, attend a meeting of Wheeling City Council on Tuesday night. (Photo by Eric Ayres)

WHEELING – Officials in the city of Wheeling are looking to re-allocate federal pandemic relief funds in order to demolish all remaining dilapidated structures on the city’s raze or repair list.

“The Building and Planning Department came to me and indicated that they have about 25 properties left to finish out their list – the famous list of dilapidated structures,” City Manager Robert Herron told members of the Finance Committee of Wheeling City Council on Tuesday night.

Scores of neglected structures throughout the city of Wheeling have been demolished and removed in recent years, thanks in large part to a massive allocation of American Rescue Plan Act funds nearly three years ago. Utilizing a portion of the city’s ARPA funds, the city council in place at that time allocated an unprecedented $1 million toward the city’s annual demolition effort.

Because of competitive bidding, the city was able to stretch those dollars into several different rounds of demolition contracts awarded over the past few years.

“We’ve come to the end of the use of those funds,” Herron said. “A total of 82 structures have been demolished as a result.”

Combined with money for demolitions provided through the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection’s Dilapidated Properties Program (DLAP), well over 100 structures have been removed over the past few years.

“If you add in the D-LAP funding, it’s 120 structures – some commercial, but mostly residential – but all dilapidated structures in the city that have been demolished,” Herron said.

Even before the ARPA money came into play, Wheeling city leaders had the wrecking ball in full swing. In the year prior to the $1 million demo allocation, city council had increased the annual demolition contract ceiling to $500,000 – an amount that by far topped the previous allocations.

With the current demo list down to about a couple of dozen properties, the Building and Planning Department is looking to knock out all that remain.

“The department has requested – if possible – that city council consider an additional ARPA allocation of $300,000 to deal with those 25 remaining properties,” Herron said. “That’s an average cost of $12,000 per property, which is pretty accurate.”

Herron added that the final cost would depend on bids, but it is expected that such an allocation would address the remaining properties.

Councilwoman Connie Cain, City Manager Robert Herron, Mayor Denny Magruder and Vice Mayor Jerry Sklavounakis, from left, attend a meeting of Wheeling City Council on Tuesday night. (Photo by Eric Ayres)

As required by federal law, all of the city’s nearly $29 million pool of ARPA funds was allocated before the end of 2024. In fact, Herron noted that the previous city council that finished terms at the end of June last year had distributed the remaining pandemic relief funds to various projects.

However, the city still has some ARPA funds on hand because of a major sewer project that came in significantly under budget. Herron said the Pleasanton Sewer Project came in around $750,000 below its originally anticipated cost.

“So there are funds available that were committed but are now available because of the under-budget project,” the city manager explained. “There would be funds available if council were to consider this request. This will certainly finish off the list and give us an opportunity to kind of start over and hopefully manage the rate of dilapidation to minimize that.”

Demolition is an eligible expense for ARPA funds, Herron noted, and the funds can be reallocated as long as they are spent by the end of 2026. Twelve of the 25 remaining structures on the raze or repair list are “ready to go out to bid now,” he added.

Six of those 12 properties came to the list through trials by abstention where the owners were deceased, Herron said, noting that in those situations, there was no hope that the properties would ever be repaired.

In the cases when a dilapidated property of a deceased owner is demolished by the city, the likelihood of that property being transferred to the city “increases dramatically,” Herron explained.

“We do have a lot of voluntary transfers as well,” he added, noting that the city is looking to address the many properties that have come into ownership of the city through demolitions. Liens are placed on the properties, but in many cases, previous owners never come forward to take required action to claim the parcels. They eventually become city property. “We’re in the process of looking at various options for those, including a land bank. We do anticipate providing a recommendation to city council within the next couple of months.”

Officials noted that even if the demolition list is brought down to zero remaining structures, eventually the process will begin again, and a new list of neglected structures will materialize. However, through inspections and code enforcement, fewer properties are likely to fall into such disrepair.

“These demolitions have been incredible for our neighborhoods and in helping reduce the risk to first responders since these places burn down. This is great use of the money, in my opinion,” Wheeling City Councilman Ben Seidler said.

“I think we can see the effects of this program all around town,” Mayor Denny Magruder added. “If we can get that list down to zero and maintain it, I think it will be a big win.”

Members of the Finance Committee of Council agreed to recommend that leftover ARPA funds from the Pleasanton Storm Sewer Project be transferred and used for demolition.