T-L Photo/JENNIFER COMPSTON-STROUGH The village-owned Bohandy Building sits at the corner of Main and Chestnut streets in Barnesville.

BARNESVILLE — Village Council on Monday backed out of a deal to sell the Bohandy Building because another offer was made for the property, and the decision drew backlash from multiple business owners over the village’s handling of its real estate.

The kerfuffle started after Councilman Steve Hill made a motion to transfer the Bohandy Building to the Belmont County Community Improvement Corp. to facilitate its sale to Joel Braido.

That’s when Council President Tony Johnson mentioned “another offer” for the building.

As part of the motion, Hill read from a list of expenses incurred by the village for the building, including $15,201 for gas and electricity in the last 19 months. He also pointed out that two previous potential sales of the property fell through.

In response to Johnson, Hill said there had been another offer for a property on North Chestnut Street that council recently began the process of selling but said that offer had been ignored.

“So I’m ignoring this one,” Hill said, restating his motion with a second that was provided by Councilman Brian Yarnall.

The motion failed, though, as only Hill and Yarnall voted in favor of selling the property to Braido.

Councilmen Terry McCort and Les Tickhill along with Councilwoman Robyn Misner and Johnson voted “no,” with Johnson saying to Braido, “Joel, it’s not personal.”

It was then revealed that attorney Michael Shaheen was the other party interested in purchasing the building. Hill addressed Shaheen, who was in attendance.

“So why all of a sudden do you want this building?” Hill asked.

Shaheen said that while he did not have a “second step” in mind for the property, he did not intend to “flip it.” He later said that it would surely be a multi-use site due to the sheer square footage available.

“We’ll move on it,” Shaheen assured Hill.

A sign posted in the window of the structure offering it for sale or lease states that it consists of “over 4 floors” and 28,000 square feet of space.

Shaheen said he had only heard rumors of what Braido would pay for the building, adding that he felt moving the property through the CIC to avoid the bid process ran counter to Mayor Jake Hershberger’s assurances that his administration would be “very transparent.”

“Under that pretense, I think it would have been appropriate to let it go to bid,” Shaheen said, adding that they both would still have had the ability to be part of the bid process.

Braido spoke up, telling village leaders, “You folks came to me about this building, and I very willingly attended your meetings and your work sessions. I jumped through your hoops and did exactly what you asked of me. I was very transparent about it all. I wasn’t here to talk you into or out of anything, and at the end of the last meeting you, Jake, assured me that this was a done deal.”

Hershberger said the final decision would be made by council and that he knew that at a previous meeting there were multiple council members “willing to support that.” He later said that the thought had been that Braido would be a good fit for the building since he had the resources to undertake the project.

“So I’ve been through two more weeks of exercise to get things in place to get that building going, only to find out tonight that as I sit here with you folks, and you should all look at me because I’m looking at all of you, that it’s off,” Braido said.

Johnson told Braido that he had told him he didn’t think his offer was enough, and that Shaheen’s offer was better. It was later confirmed that Braido’s offer had been $75,000 and Shaheen’s $90,000 for the property.

Hill pointed out that Shaheen had purchased the Patrick’s Restaurant building and property before selling it to local real estate developer T.J. Jefferis.

Hill again brought up the property on North Chestnut Street that the village recently transferred to the Belmont County Port Authority to be sold to Darren and Melissa Leach, saying that Dave Ralston, who owns Barnesville Veterinary Service across the street from that property, had also made an offer. Hill said he felt that should have gone through the proper bidding process.

Ralston was also on hand.

“I suggest to council that it’s time to go back to open, well-publicized bidding processes instead of doing this type of choosing who gets a property or building,” Ralston said. “I’m not saying this because of what happened across the street from me. I’m saying, though, that hard feelings are going to build up unless this is ended.”

Ralston also suggested that the village use the newsletter published by the Barnesville Area Chamber of Commerce to help get the word out about such matters.

Village Solicitor Richard Myser agreed with Ralston, saying village officials had gotten into the habit of making every real estate sale “a special situation” in order to bypass the proper bidding process dictated by Ohio Revised Code.

Hershberger said that while there were a lot of people who could buy the Bohandy Building for $100,000, there were very few with the means to do the extensive work that it would require. He said this was the thought process that had led village leaders to this situation.

Yarnall made a motion to start the process to sell the building to Shaheen, but no second was made.

“I think we need to think about it. We’ve gotten out of step,” Hill said.

Hershberger later said he would encourage council to go through the closed bidding process to sell the building.

The village purchased the Bohandy Building, which occupies a prominent location on the southeast corner of Main and Chestnut streets in the heart of downtown Barnesville in 2018 for $150,000 before authorizing emergency spending to repair the roof and masonry of the structure, citing public safety as officials feared the building could collapse. The roof repair was estimated to cost about $85,000 while the repair of a leaning parapet and other work on the brick facade were estimated at an additional $316,000. Council also approved spending an additional $32,000 for elevator repairs.