A vacant building will soon be no more in Des Moines County.
The Board of Supervisors has agreed to tear down the former county home.
The county has been trying to sell if since a broken water pipe led to a mold problem several years ago.
Chairman Tom Broeker said serious interest never surfaced.
He said the county acted now on the demolition because Glynn’s Demolition & Excavating out of Hennepin, IL offered to tear down the building for about $35,000 since it already has equipment in the area.
“It sounded to me like a great price,” said Broeker, “I was in the construction business, not really in the demolition business, but that sounded like a great price to me and it was quite a bit lower than what we expected.”
In fact, Broeker says Des Moines County expected to pay more than $100,000 based on previous estimates.
The supervisors have also hired AAA Budget Environmental out of Cedar Falls, IA to abate asbestos and lead from the former county home for about $26,000.
Some of the debris will be collected for use by county departments for ongoing projects.