By Kathleen Leese

For Miami Valley Today

TROY — The Troy City Council received an update Monday, April 15, from the Troy Historic Preservation Alliance (THPA) as they approach the deadline for the stabilization repairs for the IOOF/old Miami County Courthouse building.

Ben Sutherly, president of THPA, reported that as of Monday, THPA is 15 days out from deadline for the stabilization repair project.

“This is the final city council meeting prior to the April 30 deadline and I see no reason why West Main Street would not be reopened the next time I come before council in early May.”

“All stabilization repairs should be complete by this Friday, April 19. As promised in our last update, the scaffolding in front of the IOOF building came down last week and the scaffolding around the old Miami County Courthouse began coming down today (Monday),” Sutherly told council members.

Sutherly noted that this week, Level MB Construction is “filling in the coal chute in the basement of the building. All trim, gutters and downspouts are scheduled to be finished no later than tomorrow (Tuesday, April 16). Carey Co., our roofing subcontractor, will be patching the roof of the one story addition on the west side of the old courthouse and then will re-roof this section of roofing once the scaffolding comes off. We are working on re-roofing the one story addition on the east side of the old courthouse as well.”

“As we prepare for the reopening of West Main Street, we want to ensure the safety of pedestrians on the sidewalk. We will be temporarily placing plywood coverings over the larger windows of the IOOF building along West Main Street,” Sutherly said. “These plywood coverings will be painted and will only be in place for a few months until the windows are either restored or replaced.”

Sutherly told council members THPA has applied to the National Trust for a grant that will provide for the restoration of the windows and a decision on the grant is expected in June. In addition, he stated, THPA will have volunteers cleaning the street in front of the building on Wednesday, April 17, in preparation for reopening.

Sutherly also provided an update on fundraising, noting, “I am pleased to share that $816,184 has been pledged toward this project and we have an additional $50,000 in private loans arranged if necessary. Of the more than $816,000 pledged, $773,844 has been collected. We have truly been blown away by the generous support of 309 donors with 56 additional donors since my last update.”

Sutherly said 500 of the 536 bricks used to repair the parapet on the IOOF Building have been sponsored and there are only 40 bricks still available. Individuals can sponsor a brick for $100 through the THPA website at www.thpatroy.org.

On Thursday, April 25, from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m., Sutherly invited those present to attend a Dine to Donate event at Crafted & Cured. Twenty-five percent of all proceeds will go toward stabilization repairs on the IOOF/old Miami County Courthouse Building.

Sutherly told council members, “The THPA asked several questions at the last city council meeting and never received a response. However, Mr. Titterington, (a reference to Patrick Titterington, city of Troy director of public service and safety), apparently sent an email to certain city officials, along with an admonishment not to respond to the email in writing, but instead to call him on his cell phone with any questions or concerns. THPA only learned about this email because it was apparently leaked.”

Sutherly said, “We believe that when the acting chief building official inspects the building, he will find that all items listed in Exhibit B of the settlement agreement as needing repair will have been fully addressed. If the city administration feels there is any red tape that needs to be addressed beyond the Exhibit B list in the settlement agreement, I would ask that the city be transparent and forthright about those items and that it not spring any requirements on the THPA at the 11th hour so that West Main Street can be reopened as quickly as possible.”

The only question addressed to Sutherly during the meeting was from Council member Jeffrey Schilling, who asked about restoration of the windows in the building and whether all of the windows will eventually match.

Sutherly responded that a lot of the windows are original to the building and if the funding from the National Trust is received, they will likely expect the windows to be restored.

The writer is a regular contributor to Miami Valley Today.