MIFFLINBURG -- The historic borough building could be preserved and renovated for about the same cost as knocking it down and building a new one, an official said Monday.
"Until a bid is awarded to tear it down, as far as I'm concerned, the option to keep it is still there," said Steve Benner, Mifflinburg's project manager.
The issue is expected to be a topic at tonight's council meeting.
Borough Council members voted last month to demolish the 150-year-old building. However, they could change their minds and chose to fix the structurally unsound building, perhaps for as little as $49,000.
They also could spend between $1 million and $1.5 million to either completely renovate the building or build a new one.
Just to address the immediate concerns with the structurally unsound building would cost the borough at least $49,000, with more money potentially needed to bring it up to code, according to Benner.
"We don't know how much for sure, since we didn't have a formal analysis done," Benner said.
"Stabilizing it will allow us to bring the yellow police tape down. To renovate it would require a full rehabilitation, which would include air conditioning and an elevator."
Benner said stabilizing would basically require installing steel supports to brace the beams.
Last month, the council backed away from plans to stabilize the building and voted to have an engineer design a new structure, either at the current site or another location that may become available in the future.
According to Benner, bids on demolition won't be opened until early next month as the council awaits results of an asbestos survey.
In August, the borough received offers from three area contractors to repair the building, ranging from $49,368 to $105,900. The council chose to wait and have its building committee review the bids before making a decision.
The council hired an architect in May to determine how much it would cost to stabilize the structure. The review was done in response to the borough administrative office and police department being evicted in March by the Central Keystone Council of Governments, which performs code enforcement for Mifflinburg.
Engineers found wide cracks in walls and floors and a twisted support beam. The building was deemed at risk of collapsing.
In the meantime, roughly 14 employees of the police department and borough office have been working at a North Eighth Street building owned by Yorktowne, which the borough has been renting for $4,700 a month. The rent is being paid out of the $300,000 the council saved in recent years for building renovations, according to Margaret Metzger, the borough manager, who said the borough has funds to finish the two-year lease it signed nine months ago.
The council meets at 7 p.m. at the former Yorktowne building on North Eighth Street.
n E-mail comments to jnorth@dailyitem.com.
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