SHAMOKIN - City Hall will pay a settlement with a contractor in two installments, using funds drawn from loan money received last year to ante up on unpaid bills.
Robert Gusick is owed $76,812 for work performed at the site of a partial building collapse in June 2012 in the 700 block of North Shamokin Street. City council voted earlier this month to allow its solicitor to pursue an out-of-court settlement, ending a three-year dispute.
The first installment will be paid in days, city administrator Robert Slaby said Wednesday, with the second installment due July 1.
"I'm glad the money is still available under the Act 47 loan," Slaby said. If not, it would have had to come from within Shamokin's tight 2015 budget.
"I'm determined to keep them within budget ... because this is the only way to fix it," he said of the city's financial troubles.
Gusick, who operates a self-titled construction business, filed suit seeking $98,500 for the emergency demolition of the former Shamokin Health Spa. He was on site about 15 days and estimated having completed 75 percent of demolition and hauling before he and city officials had a falling out over the cost and scope of the project.
Mayor William D. Milbrand said he believed Gusick's original cost estimate was "over inflated," but that he "needed to be paid."
"It's paid now and thank goodness. That's one more thing off our chest," he said.
Ultimately, more than $100,000 was paid to other contractors to complete the job, most of which was covered by a grant from the state Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED). The city was already in the process of seeking early financial intervention for eventual acceptance in DCED's Act 47 program as it neared bankruptcy.