Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
With Tekoa's annual Slippery Gulch Days parade set for Saturday, June 17, city officials are looking for a solution to the sight of a caved-in red brick building on Crosby Street.
Tekoa City Council Monday night voted to buy or rent a chain-link fence to surround the property. The city also voted to form a three-person unfit building committee. Appointed by the mayor, the group will oversee the process of what will happen to the damaged building owned by Tekoa resident Keith Anderson.
The city will first put up the fence.
“I think it's going to be up permanently,” said Kynda Browning, clerk-treasurer. “Or until something is decided.”
The Slippery Gulch committee discussed re-routing the parade but decided to leave the Crosby Street route in place.
“There's no way to isolate the town from that building,” said Tekoa Mayor John Jaeger.
Zach Lanham, the city's building inspector, two weeks ago directed Anderson to put up a chain-link fence around the property.
“And it hasn't happened yet,” said Jaeger. “You might say the city is frustrated. Obviously the city's concerned.”
An estimated 1,200 square foot section of its roof and part of two walls collapsed under snow Jan. 26.
Anderson has owned the building since 2006.
On the corner of Crosby and Main streets, the building is known as the former Cohn Motor Co. location and later Redfern & Sons Motor Company. Built before 1902, it has not operated as a business since Redfern & Sons went out in the 1950s.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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