Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
The City of Tekoa hired a structural engineer who came to evaluate the Anderson building April 18, in the aftermath of the roof collapse and pending cleanup.
Justin Cook of DCI Engineers in Spokane directed the city to put a fence on the south side of the building. A city crew lined out a plastic-webbed barrier.
Cook is expected to submit a report to the City of Tekoa this week.
“Any structural engineer will say two sides are suspect,” said Tekoa Mayor John Jaeger. “I'm hoping he's gonna tell us what we can do about it.”
The two sides are the west side, which faces Crosby Street, and the south side, where bricks remain where they fell in January.
“Bricks are still falling,” Jaeger said.
The city has a timeline in mind to get the building secured before Slippery Gulch Days in June.
Cook evaluated the outside of the building only.
“Nobody's asked me for access, I'm the only one who has the keys,” said Keith Anderson, owner of the building. “Every time you talk to the city, it's a different deal.”
Anderson indicated he has removed some of the bricks.
“I have over two pallets picked up,” he said.
Previously, the building was cited as part of a case against Anderson, in which he was convicted in October 2015 of welfare fraud for not reporting all of his assets when he applied for state assistance. The state contended that one of his assets he failed to report was his ownership of the building.
The red-brick building on the corner of Crosby and Main Street is known as the former Cohn Motor Co. location and later Redfern & Sons Motor Company.
Anderson has owned the building since 2006.
Built before 1902, the building has not operated as a business since Redfern & Sons went out in the 1950s.
Tekoa Building Inspector Zach Lanham has estimated that 1,200 square feet of roof came down onto the second floor, along with part of the brick wall on both sides.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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