8/22/18 – 5:09 A.M.
Update – 6:32 A.M. (Corrects omission of Auditor Jim Staschiak’s title)

A debate is brewing over whether Findlay should sell a city-owned building near downtown. The Courier reports Findlay Safety Director Paul Schmelzer spoke in favor of selling the empty facility at 428 West Main Cross Street Tuesday. His comments came on the same day a letter to the editor from Auditor Jim Staschiak criticized the idea. Staschiak said he stood against, “spending hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars only to sell certain properties at a fraction of the cost the public shelled out for them.” Schmelzer says the city didn’t turn the space into a health department because the price tag was $500,000.

The city bought the building in 2011. The property also includes two dilapidated structures. Mayor Lydia Mihalik said investors who have been renovating and building along West Main Cross Street want something done with the property. In his letter, Staschiak said the city should maintain the property “to the standards we are aggressively enforcing on our citizens these days.”

Council members will tour the site at 5 p.m. on August 30th before making a decision.