Evansville Land Bank approves contractor contracts, selects asbestos inspector and OKs short-term consulting hire

The Evansville Land Bank Corporation accepted its July financial report and approved several vendor and personnel actions at its Aug. 16 meeting.

Jessica, Land Bank staff, presented the July financials and said the report reflected the sale of several properties — including 518 South Evans and 1808 North Fifth and eight parcels sold to Cornerstone Capital — and noted city contribution payments for June–August had not yet been submitted to staff and will appear in the August report. "Before you is the July financial information," Jessica said, and she explained net operating income looked low only because those city contributions were not entered for that month.

The board authorized the finance committee to evaluate reinvestment options for a $50,000 certificate of deposit held at Zions Bank that matures on 08/22/2024; Jessica said the bank "were wondering if we wanted to withdraw any this fall" but staff planned to hold proceeds in a money market until the committee made a recommendation. Unidentified Speaker 2 moved that the finance committee bring back reinvestment options for the board to consider; the motion was seconded and approved by voice vote.

On contracting, staff described a pre-bid process for demolition work that included a pre-bid meeting on 08/09/2024. Three timely responses to the request for qualifications were received and staff recommended executing contracts with all three firms so each could submit bids: Velpen Trucking and Disposal; Stemley (listed in submissions also as Stimulate/Stemley) Excavating; and Hydorn Excavating. "It would be staff suggestion to execute contracts with all 3," Jessica said. The board voted to accept all three demolition contractors.

For asbestos inspection work, Jessica said she solicited bids using a recent solicitation template; four responses were received and the lowest bid came from Kramer Consulting. Unidentified Speaker 3 moved to select Kramer Consulting as the asbestos-inspector contractor; the motion was seconded and approved by voice vote.

Jessica also requested temporary coverage during her upcoming seven-week leave and proposed contracting former Land Bank secretary-treasurer Beth Pritzer as a consultant. The proposal specified $40 per hour, averaging about 12 hours per week, not to exceed 100 hours, with the agreement to be concluded by 12/23/2024 and paid from Land Bank operating funds. Unidentified Speaker 5 (Colby) said he had discussed coverage and supported the hire; a motion to approve the consulting agreement passed by voice vote.

Next steps: the finance committee will return with reinvestment recommendations for the board to approve; staff will execute contracts with the approved demolition and asbestos firms; and the consulting agreement with Pritzer will cover operational duties during Jessica's leave.