Vigo County commissioners approve transfer of tax-sale certificate to Terre Haute for EPA cleanup site

Vigo County commissioners voted to approve Resolution 2025-4 to begin the process of transferring a tax‑sale certificate for an industrial parcel to the City of Terre Haute’s redevelopment office.

Mayor Brandon Sackman told the board the parcel — historically associated with Columbia Enameling/Columbia Home Products — is the subject of federal and state cleanup work. “They allocated about $5,000,000 of emergency super fund cleanup,” Sackman said, and later added that the total cleanup assistance could reach about $7,000,000. He called for the county to begin the long process of transferring ownership to the city so a public‑private partnership can pursue housing and commercial redevelopment once underground testing and any additional remediation are complete.

The mayor said the surface is currently clean and that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is working with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) on further underground testing. “Once we clean it up, then moving to the public private partnership process to add to the housing stock of the city of Terre Haute and that hopefully add some commercial opportunities,” Sackman said.

Officials said the resolution is an initial administrative step to reassign the tax‑sale certificate from the current private holders to the City of Terre Haute Redevelopment Office. A motion to transfer the certificate to the city was made and approved by the commissioners; the motion’s mover and seconder were not named on the record.

Commissioners and the mayor described the transfer as the start of a lengthy process: further environmental testing, coordination with IDEM and EPA, and eventual redevelopment planning. No timeline for completion of testing, remediation, or final disposition of the property was provided.

The board did not adopt any redevelopment agreement or binding sale to a private party at the meeting; commissioners only approved the administrative transfer of the tax‑sale certificate to the city. Officials said they envision market‑rate housing and commercial uses but did not specify developers, purchase prices or firm design plans.

The board approved the resolution by voice vote. Specific roll‑call votes and tallies were not recorded in the meeting transcript.

The item follows earlier county and city coordination on vacant or tax‑delinquent parcels; commissioners said the transfer is intended to speed cleanup and future reuse rather than leave the parcel under current private ownership while remediation proceeds.