GALLIPOLIS, Ohio (WSAZ) -- Abandoned, dilapidated buildings create eyesores in every community across our region. While some towns are at the mercy of the property owners to foot the bill for demolition or take it out of their city budgets, others are getting a little help.

In the City of Gallipolis, some new grant money is helping clean up the mess.

“I’m tickled to death they’re finally tearing those building down,” long time Gallipolis resident Ervin Criner said.

Criner has lived on Fourth Avenue downtown Gallipolis for several decades. He said one of the recently torn down houses had been empty for twenty years.

Jay Cremeens, Vice President of the Gallipolis City Commision said members of the commission are getting very aggressive about tearing these vacant buildings down.

The city recently received $60,000 in grant money to tear down at least ten homes in the city. The money was administered through the Gallia Meigs Community Action Agency.

One home has only been vacant for three years, but it's already caused a laundry list of concerns.

“There are rodents that come up from the creek, then there are worries that vagrants will come in to the house for shelter or that someone will set it on fire,” Code Enforcement Officer Brett Bostic said.

But, even though the funds are secured, not every house on the list will come down immediately. In some cases, finding the property owners has proved next to impossible bringing the process to a crawl.

“We go through the court system now and we notify them that we’re going to tear their property down whether they know about it or not,” Cremeens said .

In the last six years, the city has torn down $40,000 worth of abandoned buildings at its own expense -- placing a tax lien on the property. Moving forward, the homes coming down now will clear the way for the city to sell the land for revitalization.