CETC goes on auction block

Whitman County commissioners put the damaged CETC building on the auction block Monday with a minimum bid of $60,000. Sale will be conducted through a sealed bid process. Bids are due Dec. 3 at 11:30 a.m.

The CETC, damaged by a snow load in the winter of 2009, needs about $125,000 worth of work to get up to standards for public buildings, according to Bob Reynolds, county facilities manager.

The lot on which the building sets, said Reynolds, was appraised at a value of $45,000. All told, the building, if undamaged, was appraised at a value of upwards of $290,000.

Commissioners received no input from the public during a hearing on the sale of the CETC last week.

The building on Main and Wall was the long-time home to the local Elks Club before the national organization suspended the Colfax group’s charter.

A group of local businessmen then took over ownership to establish a center for work force training.

Whitman County took ownership of the CETC from the Port of Whitman County as a business development center, noted Commissioner Greg Partch.

“It just hasn’t taken off like we had hoped,” said Partch.

The building costs the county about $5,000 a year in maintenance, insurance and utility costs.

Treasurer Bob Lothspeich said he has fielded calls from several parties interested in purchasing the building.

Last year, the county offered to transfer the CETC ownership to the City of Colfax, but the city council declined the offer.

Reynolds noted the 2009 snowstorm stressed the roof support system. Because of the danger of the roof collapsing under another snow load the building has only been open between March and October.

The county’s insurer, Travelers, paid $15,000, and would pay another $4,000 if the county repairs the building. Travelers contended most of the problems with the CETC stem from improper foundation preparations when the CETC was constructed in 1972 after the Elks building was destroyed by fire.