Decatur County, Ga., revealed its ongoing plan to clean up a large metal building at the Industrial Air Park after questions have been raised by citizens regarding the matter.

During the public participation portion of the meeting, Willard Weaver spoke about conditions at the Gilreath Building, which is located to the west of the new airport terminal.

Calling it "an old warehouse," Weaver said the metal storage building was left in a mess by a tree company several years ago, and after the county had collected a $50,000 debt, there was supposed to be an agreement that the seedling company would clean up the building within 30 days.

County Administrator Tom Patton responded to Weaver's comments by saying that he could not speak to county actions taken prior to his being hired last September, but he had in his possession a letter signed by a former tenant and co-owner of the metal building.

"They said in the letter that if we clean it up that they'll pay for it," Patton said. "So, that's what we'll do; we'll send him a bill."

In a letter to County Attorney Brown Moseley, Livingston set up a payment schedule for back rent owed to the [Decatur County] and wrote "it is our understanding the [steel building] is to be demolished, and we ask that the county dispose of the remaining material and bill us."

Contents of the metal building include a lot of old pallets, thousands of plastic seed cups for growing seedlings and bedding for plantings.

Commissioner Earl Perry took a tour of the steel building recently before clean-up began and said the county is considering recycling the plastic containers and using them at other county projects.

Refuse from old metal buildings can be put to use at the new agriculture arena at the fairgrounds, among other locations, while concrete can be broken up for use by the Road Department for paving driveways.