Council Discusses Brody Warehouse Posting

Brody’s Furniture's Steve Brody on Monday asked Canonsburg Council if it would “leave as is” his warehouse at 5 Iron Street.

Brody said the borough’s code department had posted the building as an unsafe structure.

“I’ve got 10 or 15 years to continue my business, and I really don’t want to invest in a new warehouse at this time,” Brody told council. “I also can’t afford the repairs the borough believes are necessary to bring the building up to code.”

Councilman Rich Russo said the property had been appraised at just less than $40,000—an amount Brody said would not be enough to replace the 24,000-square-foot building he uses for storage and as a holding area.

Council President John Bevec said there would be no fines issued while Brody is moving toward resolving the issue.

“The first step, perhaps, is to get Mr. Brody a more defined list of what needs to be done to the building,” Bevec said.

Councilwoman Fran Coleman agreed, adding: “It’s important to keep businesses in Canonsburg.”

Russo also chaired a short discussion about the increase in the number of foreclosed homes in Canonsburg, which is putting a strain on the public works department that maintains the grass on the properties when owners cannot be located.

Council agreed that it may be more cost-efficient to outsource the grass maintenance, at least temporarily.

Borough Manager Terry Hazlett said code had identified about a 12 foreclosed homes this year.

Hazlett reported that the borough had hired Jason Boland of Canonsburg and Jay Rodenski of Hickory to replace two recently-retired employees in the public works department.

Mayor David H. Rhome also proposed that the borough hire an additional part-time police officer—Joshua Withers—as one of the recently hired part-time officers will not be available as often as originally believed.

At next Monday’s meeting, council is expected to approved bidding on the borough building renovation, which could begin as early as August 1.

The borough received a matching state grant of $650,000 to spearhead the project, which is focusing primarily on renovation of the police department and installation of handicapped-accessible restrooms.