Time for Coulee Dam to pay up

 

Last updated 7/17/2019 at 10:52am



You can only milk a cow, or an asset, for so long before you have to put something back in.

Cities and towns, whose elected officials feel the pain of their tax- and rate-payers, eventually get forced to deal with that problem. Local cities are no different.

Currently, Coulee Dam has had its share of struggles with an added historical burden that makes the pain seem worse. A case in point came to the fore briefly at last Wednesday’s city council meeting.

The Community Building, that concrete edifice which houses the Melody Restaurant, Riverview Lanes and an empty movie theater above, and the fire station below, has desperately needed a new roof for years. It’s owned by the city.

That’s the kind of can that’s easy to kick down the road when other priorities scream louder, but not any more.

Last year, the council plunked $25,000 into the budget to help fund a fix. But the job will likely take 10 times that, at a minimum, the council heard last week.

That prompted Councilmember Merv Schmidt, who also sat on the council decades ago, to recall its dealings with the building back then.

“We had a chance to sell it for $200,000 about 30 years ago,” he recalled. “We should have.”

Citizens at the time were upset at the prospect of selling the building to the Colville Tribes because they were afraid they’d put a casino in it.

Hindsight is wonderful; foresight is hard.

Coulee Dam must now step into its longtime ownership role in a serious manner. Its citizens will be footing the maintenance bills for the Community Building which they have not done for decades. It’s either that, or risk having tenants all slump away, discouraged by a leaky roof, an uncooperative landlord, and a venue destined to be empty but for the cobwebs.

The city is currently seeking, and paying for, bids on fixing the roof. The council and citizens will have to swallow harder than they’re used to in order to face the problem.

Scott Hunter

editor and publisher

 

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