The Harlan City Council (File Photo)

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The Harlan City Council accepted a bid on a downtown structure known to many as the Creech Building during their regular June meeting.

Mayor Joe Meadors brought the matter to the attention of the council.

“Per the council’s wishes, we ran the add for the sale of the Croushorn Smith building, which we all refer to as the Creech Building, we advertised that for sale at the minimum price of $17,000,” Meadors said. “We opened bids last Friday at 1 p.m., and we only had one bid and that was from Harlan County Impact Building LLC for the amount of $17,100.”

Meadors called on a representative of Harlan County Impact Building, Geoff Marietta, to speak to the council about plans for the structure. Marietta advised the building is in need of a lot of work.

“We’re really excited,” Marietta said. “The first step is going to be to put a new roof on the Creech building, it needs it desperately…it’s going to be a long process, the building needs stabilized. I was in that building about a year ago, it needs everything new, floors, stairs, the entire structure is going to have to be stabilized.”

 Marietta explained the intention is for the building to house a retail outlet and possibly office space or apartments.

“It’s my recommendation we accept the bid as presented by Harlan County Impact Building LLC,” Meadors said. “They met the minimum reserve bid and exceeded it by $100. I recommend the council accept that bid and provide a deed so they can assume ownership.”

Council member Chris Jones made a motion to accept the bid, seconded by council member Dave McCarthy. The motion passed with no opposition.

In other council activity, multiple city vehicles were declared surplus including a 1995 Ford Crown Victoria, a 2007 Ford F150, and a 2011 International Dump Truck. A motion was passed to advertise the vehicles for bid.