Thomas Howard / The Meridian StarA backhoe operator with Cullum Construction on Friday tears down a condemned house on 42nd Avenue. The house was one of 27 structures scheduled for demolition.

The Meridian City Council met in a special called meeting on Wednesday to authorize payment for recent demolition work around town.

Cullum Construction was awarded a contract to demolish 27 condemned structures throughout the city at a total cost of $148,239.

Community Development Director Craig Hitt said the city needed to pay Cullum Construction $74,119.50, or half of the contract the city approved in December 2022.

“He’ll finish up with the second phase next week,” Hitt said. “We’ll be coming to you sometime in June for that.”

Hitt said it had been his understanding Cullum had already been paid but recently learned the check had not been issued. He said he appreciated the council calling a special meeting to make the payment as the city was already several weeks behind.

Code enforcement staff have already begun the process of identifying other structures for condemnation. The city has a process it must work through, including notifying the property owner and giving them adequate time to address issues, before a property can be brought to the council to be condemned.

The city tries to package multiple condemned properties into a single demolition project as that makes the contract more attractive to demolition companies and often results in lower costs than bidding out each structure individually.