Stalled plans for building repairs were taken up early in the year, but a basement fire in April brought issues to forefront

By Tony Boom for the Rogue Valley Times

Preservation of Talent’s historic 1899 Town Hall will start at the bottom.

Talent City Council voted to enter into a $235,000 design-build contract with Ausland Group for foundation repair work at its Dec. 19 meeting.

Stalled plans for building repairs were taken up early in the year, but a fire in the basement on April 17 brought issues to the forefront. Numerous interior and exterior elements of the building require either replacement or refurbishing.

“This is the city’s largest artifact. It’s the jewel of Talent,” said Tessa DeLine, city finance director, who is heading the restoration effort.

A need for the work can be seen on the outside where there are cracks in the mortar and pieces of rock have come loose from the foundation. Inside, the floor sags in places and the settling of a 1929 addition is prominent.

A walk around the exterior reveals rotting stairways, dangling gutters and moss on the roof. Inside there are cracks in wall finishes and a sag in a structural member that runs across the large main room.

Funding for the foundation work will come from Talent’s federal American Rescue Plan Act allotment. The funds needed to be committed by Dec. 31 or they could be reclaimed by the federal government.

The fire caused extensive smoke damage and displaced the ACCESS Talent Food Bank, which operated out of the basement. The building is now closed to public use. Some restoration work was started, but then suspended so that foundation work will not affect new repairs to paint and plaster.

After the foundation work is completed, replacement of the roof would likely be the next project undertaken, said DeLine.

A preliminary estimate for repairs, not including the foundation work, comes to $500,000 including a 20% contingency. Talent’s Urban Renewal Agency has included $250,000 it its fiscal year budget for Town Hall work. The city will also seek grants and aid from organizations that support historic restoration work.

When built in 1899, the hall was the city’s school. In 1910, the city acquired the structure. Since that time, it has served a variety of roles. It’s housed the police department, a library and city offices. It has been the site of numerous public meeting and events over the years.

The city was lucky not lose the building to fire, said DeLine and Mayor Darby Ayers-Flood. City employees Hector Flores and Hector Rocha had gone to Town Hall in the morning, rather than at the usual afternoon time, to set it up for a public meeting. They discovered the fire.

When she lived in the city previously, DeLine came to meetings in the building for eight years as a city councilor. It’s also where she voted and she said residents gathered there after a flood made the town’s water plant inoperable. “This is where the community comes together,” she said.

Ausland Group has provided restoration work for a number of historical buildings in the Rogue Valley including Applegate Elementary School, Wolf Creek Inn and Southern Oregon University’s Churchill Hall.

Under the design-build scenario, various aspects of a project are treated individually with approvals being given to proceed throughout the process. The first step for Ausland will be design development for the foundation work.

TURA has been involved with work on the building since the agency was formed late in the last century, said Ayers-Flood, who also chairs the current TURA board of directors.

In the late 1990’s, a restoration committee guided work at that time. TURA invested some money on interiors upgrades late in the last decade. But very little of a 2018 proposal for $223,000 in work prepared by historian George Kramer occurred.

A Historic Town Hall Work Group has been formed to guide the new effort. Members Marla Cates, Jack Latvala, Ron Medinger, Joi Riley and Geoffrey Riley are from the original restoration committee. Brian Dunnigan is a new member who operates an engineering firm in Talent.

“They know the building. They are very knowledgeable on the construction of the building and the history,” Ayers-Flood said.

The building is actually three structures. The 1899 school house, a 1929 addition and a 1959 addition. When investigating fire damage, it was discovered that the 1929 addition was actually a building that was apparently moved to the site to expand the hall, said Deline. Its origin is unknown.

“All of it has historical significance, so we have to preserve all of it,” said DeLine.
Brad “Doc” Walters, city facilities maintenance director, prepared the repair estimates. They include ADA accessibility and ADA restrooms, $120,000; energy efficiency upgrade, $25,000; roof and gutter replacement, $38,000; and conversion of the former kitchen to a meeting space, $14,000.

Other work includes: fire system, $45,000; flooring, $30,000; stairway repair and replacement, $16,500; and acoustic improvements, $17,000. Other miscellaneous upgrades would add $194,500.

A bell tower on the building has a slight lean that will need to be investigated. The 300-pound brass bell in the tower was last rung in 2000.

A 2022 engineer report recommends that the building not be occupied during high wind events or snow storms.

Reach Ashland freelance writer Tony Boom at tboomwriter@gmail.com. This story first appeared in the Rogue Valley Times.