Lansford Borough filed an objection to a tax sale of a property it had condemned this week.

Solicitor Bob Yurchak appeared in Carbon County Court Monday to file the objection to the sale of 334 W. Bertsch St.

“We’ve had an issue with the property,” Yurchak said, adding that a potential buyer bid $11,000 on it at a tax sale.

The borough felt the building, which had been damaged by fire, was not redeemable, he said, and the borough engineer agreed.

“We also provided that future owner a list of requirements for us to lift a condemnation, and he did not responded to any of it,” Council President Bruce Markovich added.

“He was supposed to hire an engineer within 30 days, he didn’t do that,” he said. “He was supposed to establish a fund to guarantee that he would have the money to fix the building; he did not do that either.”

The borough was preparing to tear down the building using grant funds, when it learned of the potential sale.

On Wednesday night, council ratified Yurchak’s appearance in court to file the objection.

Meeting

Council also agreed to schedule a meeting with the state Department of Community and Economic Development to discuss the borough participating in the Strategic Management and Planning Program.

“They were here in 2018 or 2019; we met with them a few times,” Markovich said. “Then the pandemic hit and the program fell apart. Coaldale has them right now, and Coaldale says they’re doing wonderful things there.

“They’re streamlining their process, they have new computer programs, and they felt it would be a good idea if we met with them to see what is available,” Markovich said.