Staff photo /Brandon Cantwell The right side of the roof of 7764 McDowell St. in Hubbard Township is partially caved in. On the building’s left side, brick tiles bulge outward.

HUBBARD TOWNSHIP — A McDowell Street property was the center of attention for a second straight meeting as trustees debated what the best course of action for it would be — or whether they should take any at all.

Trustees reported Tuesday that they haven’t received any bids and haven’t spoken to the previous bidder about complying. Trustee William Colletta noted there were parameters that needed to be set if they went through with purchasing the property for demolition, including getting a demolition permit and providing certificates for the disposal of materials.

Colletta said he was able to talk to a member of the land bank, who explained that they set different prices for structural removals.

“If you turn it (over), you can do like, three options; number one is, they may pay 10% of the demolition,” Colletta said. “They may pay up to 90% of the demolition, where they may take the property over if he’s willing to give it to the land bank, if it’s back taxed by what the building was worth.”

Colletta said the land bank member, who was also a Liberty Township trustee, told him “sometimes you gotta bite the bullet.” He said it made him think that the township should pay for it, but they could create a program similar to roads, where they identify which structures are the worst and demolish one house a year.

Trustee Jason Tedrow said that if the property owners were a year behind on their taxes, trustees could push it to the county treasurer’s office, who could push it to the county prosecutor to start going after that money to foreclose on the house.

He reminded trustees that the property was behind on taxes, missing payments in 2025’s first half and the last half of 2024.

“Technically, the neighboring property owner can potentially even look at buying the rearage on the taxes and then within 12 months, they can foreclose on it,” Tedrow said. “If they’re concerned with the house, they can spend their money to demo it.”

Trustee Monica Baker said it couldn’t wait, deeming it more of a safety issue — with which Tedrow disagreed.

“This is a civil matter between two neighboring property owners; this is not a township matter as much as it is a civil (one),” Tedrow said. “So are we going to go around and say, ‘I feel the tree that’s on your property jeopardizes my property’. So does that mean the township goes and starts cutting down trees for everyone?”

Tedrow noted that whoever purchases it could rehab it, pointing out that he’s seen worse houses that have been purchased and fixed, and people now reside in them.

Colletta said four entities — the township’s zoning inspector, Trumbull County Health Department, a building inspector and Eagle Joint Fire District Chief Ron Stanish — agreed it was a safety issue.

Tedrow said they could say the same thing for other houses in similar situations, but they never went into the building, which Colletta said they couldn’t do because of the safety hazard it posed.

Colletta said they could contact the township’s attorney to see if they could foreclose, but Baker questioned what they’d gain from doing so.

Tedrow reiterated his thoughts that demolishing the house would create a precedent for other civil matters in the township because the house wasn’t in the right of way, and it was in between houses. Baker said it could end up there, though, because of its positioning.

“It’s on a hill, any portion of the house could come down the hill,” Baker said. “It does not jeopardize the house, but if there’s anyone on the sidewalk, any kids on bicycles, cars driving by — who knows, it could be. One in a million chance.”

Colletta suggested having Baker reach out to the township’s attorney, while he reached out to one of the nearby homeowners.

Colletta said they’ve had issues with similar structures in the township, which have been brushed off by their owners.

“One gentleman, specifically on Forden (Road), he laughed at me and said ‘Well, I’ll wait for my day in court, and then you guys can start over with the process, and it will take another year to do it,” Colletta said. “The other gentleman on Jacobs (Road) was another one who said, ‘I’d rather go to court than clean up the property because it’s nice and warm and I get three meals a day.”

Officials originally voted 2-1 to hire Crump Construction for the demolition of the McDowell Street structure, costing $9,700, at April’s meeting.

Colletta explained on Wednesday afternoon that they held the resolution because one of the trustees said they could have the demolition done through the Trumbull County Council of Governments. However, they received a letter from the Trumbull County Engineer’s Office stating otherwise.