CENTRAL MANITOULIN—The Central Manitoulin Economic Development Committee entertained proposals for making the Mindemoya Old School viable as a community asset at its October 20 meeting, but council remains on track to turn off the heat come the end of October.
The Central Manitoulin Historical Society made a bid for the school to be turned into a seasonal cultural centre housing the museum, an art gallery and cultural activities rooms—but some members left feeling that their efforts largely fell on deaf ears.
“The Historical Society did make a presentation,” confirmed Central Manitoulin Mayor Richard Stephens, “but it was the same presentation that we heard at another committee meeting earlier. There were no decisions made.”
The municipal council, facing escalating costs for maintenance and repair of the former school and later municipal building that had served as a business incubation and office centre since the creation of a new municipal office just down the road, had decided to give notice to the tenants of the building with the eye to, with reluctance being expressed by a number of council members, closing the building down.
“That is the eternal question,” said Mayor Stephens, who is also a member of the Central Manitoulin Historical Society. “Is there a viable and financial alternative? From what we have seen so far there doesn’t seem to be the funds available to do what needs to be done.”
The mayor noted that the municipality’s economic development officer had been searching diligently for funding that might bring about a stay of execution for the building. “In the end she came up quite short,” he said. “So at the moment everything is in limbo until the Historical Society can come up with a viable option.”
Another party had come in to assess the building as a possible location for an assisted living facility. “In the end they decided to reject it after due consideration,” said the mayor. “We will have to look at our own needs for the museum and all of the assets owned by the municipality.”
Mayor Stephens refused to admit defeat, but acknowledged that there were significant challenges to overcome.
“We would all like to see the building put to good use,” he said, “but it will have to be a plan that incorporates viability and fiscal prudence.”
Marnie Bond is a Central Manitoulin taxpayer, albeit a seasonal residence—she lives in Little Current. Ms. Bond has attended a couple of meetings on the fate of the Old School and is a recent member of the Central Manitoulin Historical Society. She declined to comment as a member of the society, “I have only recently joined,” but spoke as a taxpayer of the municipality.
Ms. Bond said she was reluctant to challenge the municipal council over the building, but that she found some of the declared basis for their decision to mothball the building to be less than solid. “There were councillors who were saying that it would cost a million and a half dollars to renovate the building,” she said. “I received the documentation from the municipal office and I don’t see the numbers adding up to that much.”
Ms. Bond said that the council was also including a lot of items that didn’t need to be done immediately and basing some of their concerns on issues that were not well based in fact but rather fueled by speculation. She gave the example of the concerns expressed over asbestos in the building. “The report really doesn’t show that to be a concern,” she said. “I understand that there is some in the vermiculite in the ceiling insulation, and there is one pipe elbow that has been identified, but that could be boxed in. None of this has been identified as being of immediate concern.”
Assessments of the building confirm that the edifice is essentially sound, a fact that Ms. Bond notes the council itself readily admits, at least in the case of the outer shell. “They told us that it needs to be completely gutted,” she said. But Ms. Bond noted that a third party report had indicated that much of the interior of the building was in fact in great shape as recent renovations had been conducted by tenants to meet their needs. “The electrical system has also been recently upgraded to a 400-amp service,” she said.
The most pressing issue is the need to replace the roof, noted Ms. Bond. “But they say that will take $25,000 in shingles alone. We know that they could probably get a steel roof for the structure for something closer to $15,000.” As to plumbing concerns, Ms. Bond said that there would likely be little need to make any major changes to the plumbing. “They say that will cost between $50,000 and $100,000, and yes it probably will, but if they left the old plumbing in place, just box it in, that would probably be a lot cheaper.”
The heating system is also a major potential cost, but Ms. Bond disputed the cost estimates in that line item as well. “That is probably the highest cost of anything,” she said. “Maybe $250,000 to $350,000, but I am tired of hearing that it will cost a million and a half. When people hear that number they are ready to throw up their hands and give up. But it is not an accurate number. It is just a number that someone threw out there early on and it just keeps getting repeated.”
The Old School building has been in the community for generations, she noted, and many people consider it to be an asset worth keeping. Even though the high numbers associated with the cost have deterred some ratepayers, over 400 people have signed a petition to save the old structure.
Ms. Bond has heard some suggestion that a new building should be constructed at a cost of up to a million dollars. “That’s a million dollars for a new building when we have a perfectly good building that we could use, it doesn’t add up.”
She also pointed out that the municipality has two arenas and a number of community halls in place that do not come even close to recovering their costs. “Municipal services don’t usually have a cost recovery,” she said. “They are expected to be self sustaining.”
Ms. Bond said that she is dismayed at the lack of cultural opportunities in the municipality. “Central Manitoulin really doesn’t have anything,” she asserted. She remains convinced that there are in fact funds available to help make the project work.
Although there has not been a major backlash to the council’s decision to shut down the building and potentially demolish the structure, Ms. Bond also noted that due to a September 28 front page headline ‘Museum proposed for Old School’ many people in the community believe the crisis has been averted and the school building saved. “Everyone kind of relaxed,” she said. “They believe it is going to be saved.”
But with the heating in the building soon to be shut off, that remains far from the case.
