CETC to be closed for winter

To avoid having the roof fall in on occupants, the county-owned Community Education and Training Center will be shut down for the winter.

Repairs to the foundation of the CETC building may also be too costly for the county to keep the building standing.

A survey of the foundation of the former Elks Lodge found the back section, roughly ten feet of the building near the South Palouse River channel, was built on river silt that allows the building to continually settle. The survey is about two-thirds complete.

The CETC sustained significant damage to its roof from last winter’s heavy snow load.

Bob Reynolds, county facilities manager, said the construction window for repairs has closed this year, which means the building will have to withstand another snow load.

“I think it’s possible it would collapse if we get another snowload like last year,” said Public Works Director Mark Storey.

Reynolds noted the building will not be heated during the winter. Lack of interior heat from inside the building could be a factor in snow load on the building.

The CETC building was constructed by the Colfax Elks Lodge in 1972, after the club’s former lodge building on the site burned. The current building was built on top of the foundation of the old rock-walled Elks Lodge, but the rear portion extended past the foundation.

“It’s a very cheaply-built building,” Storey told county commissioners Monday.

The county plans to keep the building open for exhibitors during the Colfax Hullabaloo, but after that it will be shut down for the winter, Reynolds said.

Hullabaloo has been scheduled for Friday and Saturday, Oct. 2 and 3. The CETC has been booked to house a quilt show.

The county’s noxious weed office will be moved from the front end of the CETC building to the county extension office in the Public Service Building.

Storey Monday told county commissioner he expects the county’s insurance company will likely pay for repairs to the CETC roof but Storey did not expect they would pay for repairs to the foundation.

Reynolds estimated repairs to the roof and foundation would cost around $125,000. About 60 percent of that cost would be for foundation repairs, which would have to come out of county coffers.

Storey told commissioners any future shifting of the back section of the building would pull the support girders off-center.

Commissioners said they will wait until the survey is finished and the insurance company decides what it will cover before making a decision to repair the building or tear it down.

Commissioner Greg Partch pointed out a predicted $311,000 deficit in the county budget this year will be a factor in deciding a course of action for the CETC.

Reynolds added the building will need other improvements to make the restrooms compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. He was unsure if the repairs to the foundation would make the restroom upgrade necessary, but cautioned such repairs can be mandated at any time.