Grant needed for Schaeffler House repair

The Hillsboro City Coun­cil accepted a bid to address structural “emergencies” at the Schaeffler House Museum during its April 17 meeting.

At a previous meeting, Steve Fast, museums director, reported the city had been awarded a grant to restore the Schaeffler House foundation.

At this meeting, Fast said ground movement has caused the foundations to be out of plumb, with the possibility that the columns could be knocked out of place if pressure was applied.

“We need to get those fixed,” Fast said. “I am concerned the porch will fall down if they’re not fixed pretty quickly.”

The project will require repairing the eight foundation bases and restoring the columns to plumb.

Fast reported two bids for the project: $21,877 from Miller Construction of New­ton, and a bid not to exceed $20,000 from Lane K. Dyck Construction of Tampa. The council awarded the bid to Lane Dyck Construction.

Other business

In other business, the council:

◼ approved a change in the city’s Policy 20, regarding use of the city campgrounds. The original policy had limited the length of stay to 30 continuous days, but the new version gives authority to the police chief to designate special events and circumstances that would allow for a length of stay to exceed 30 days, up to six months with council approval.

The police chief may extend, renew or reaffirm additional terms.

The policy was changed to accommodate construction workers who will be working on the wind farm in northern Marion County.

◼ recessed for a Public Building Commission meeting to authorize payment to EBH & Associates for engineering expenses regarding the separation of the former hospital building and Salem Home into separate entities.

The original invoice was for $7,400, but $5,479.40 was paid earlier. The council approved paying the remaining balance of $1,921.

◼ accepted Paine’s calendar for developing the 2019 city budget. The process will begin May 24 and is projected to be completed for publication Aug. 29.

◼ met in executive session regarding non-elected personnel. No action was taken when the public session resumed.

Councilor Jonah Geh­ring was absent from the meeting; Councilor Brent Driggers participated via phone.

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