By Wally Kennedy

wkennedy@joplinglobe.com

PICHER, Okla. — The Lead-Impacted Communities Relocation Assistance Trust has selected a contractor to dispose of the structures that are being purchased by the trust in the voluntary buyout in Picher and Cardin.

Larry Roberts, operations manager for the trust, said the trust has authorized the contract with the Twin Bridges Co., but that the contract will not be executed until after it has been approved by Oklahoma’s attorney general.

The buyout is aimed at giving residents an opportunity to move away from the former lead-and-zinc-mining field, and its associated pollution and cave-in hazards.

The contract, submitted by Twin Bridges owner Johnny Seeling, has a financial cap of $750,000. His bid was the lowest of 20 that were submitted to the trust.

Roberts said a decision on the contract is expected by the middle of next week.

Roberts said Seeling has purchased 180 acres southeast of Quapaw. He intends to create a new subdivision there by recycling both frame houses and manufactured houses from the Picher-Cardin buyout.

Robert said, “His company is willing to do the necessary repairs and upgrades to the house. He will also finance those houses. He would be the banker. The houses should sell for $50 to $75 a square foot.

“His willingness to relocate and provide housing was part of the reason his bid stood out from the others. There is certainly a need for housing in our area.’’

Seeling has indicated to the trust that 45 percent of the houses in the buyout can be recycled. He will have to meet all federal and state regulations with regard to asbestos. The houses that are not suitable for renovation will be destroyed.

In the first buyout at Picher, all 42 of the houses were destroyed. Roberts said many of them were low-income dwellings that were not suitable for renovation.

A representative of Cinnabar Service Co., the appraisal company that has been hired by the trust, reported that 303 appraisal reports had been completed, that 273 offers had been made and that 254 offers had been accepted.

The spokesman said 12 offers had been rejected. The trust, he said, has closed on 213 acquisitions and that 112 structures had been vacated. He also said 39 renters had been relocated.

The company started the appraisals in December 2006 and made its first offers in March 2007.