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City officials hope that by this summer, they will be able to launch a new program to tear down abandoned houses using public-works employees.

Council last night by 6-0 vote authorized a $488,584 loan from First Commonwealth Bank to purchase two 10-ton dump trucks with salt spreaders, one 1-ton truck, one excavator and a trailer. The equipment will be purchased through the state's joint-purchasing program, called "COSTARS."

The excavator, trailer and one of the trucks are designed to allow city officials to move more quickly to demolished blighted homes. The city currently has 400 abandoned houses targeted for demolition, with more being added all the time, Mayor Mike Cherepko said.

"We are not going to waste time," he said. "If we can get the excavator in April and get our guys trained, we want to jump on this as soon as possible. Definitely by this summer."

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Hiring a contractor to tear down a house costs $8,000 to $10,000, Cherepko said. The city last year received a $200,000 grant from the county's Community Infrastructure and Tourism Fund to demolish vacant homes near the Carnegie Library of McKeesport, but that will only cover demolition of 25 to 30 houses.

At that rate, he said, by the time the city has the funds to tear down those 400 houses already targeted for demolition, another 400 will be blighted. "It's hard to attract new businesses and new residents when you have so much blight," Cherepko said.

With the elimination of the in-house recycling program, two workers were transferred back into the street department, which will give the city the flexibility to train a crew to tear down houses. "We're extremely confident that we'll be able to handle this," Cherepko said, adding that an outside agency is coming to McKeesport to train workers on safety procedures.

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The training is designed to protect workers and homeowners, as well as keep the city's insurance rates in check, he said. Outside contractors will continue to be used for trickier demolition jobs, such as vacant homes that abut other occupied structures.

"I'm excited about this," he said. "Once we have the capabilities, the equipment and the training, we'll take this on a case-by-case basis."

For more difficult jobs, city officials may hire outside specialists to do the demolition, but use city employees to remove the debris. Using employees already on the city's payroll could save several thousand dollars on each home, Cherepko said.

"It's not easy to take on another $500,000 in debt, but in my eyes, this is a necessity," Cherepko said.

The excavator is also necessary to perform required maintenance to the Long Run flood control project along state Route 48, he said. The city is responsible for removing debris from the creek.

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Council President Darryl Segina asked Cherepko to provide council with an estimate of how much it costs to tear down a house using city employees, once the program has been up and running for a while.

"Is there any chance we could lease or rent that excavator out to other communities when we're not using it?" Councilman A.J. Tedesco Jr. asked.

"That's definitely an option," Cherepko said, but cautioned that the city would have to be careful to whom the excavator was leased.

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