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The Pipestone City Council plans to repair the roof and have the east wall shored up at the Carnegie Library building. It also plans to seek an extension for a grant to repair the east wall because the grant period ends Dec. 1.
Photo by Kyle Kuphal
The Pipestone City Council during its Nov. 3 meeting, voted 3-2 to request an extension for the $122,162 grant the city was awarded by the Minnesota Historical Society to repair the east wall of the Carnegie Library building. Four days later, on Friday, Nov. 7, the City Council voted unanimously during a special meeting to replace the roof of the building and take temporary measures to prevent further deterioration to the east wall using available funds.
The grant period for the Minnesota Historical Society grant was June 1, 2024 to Dec. 1, 2025, according to the grant agreement. Temporary City Administrator/City Clerk, Stephanie LaBrune said on Nov. 3, that the grant period could potentially be extended into 2027.
Some City Council members, including Rodger Smidt and Scott Swanson, who voted against seeking an extension for the grant, expressed opposition to the city spending taxpayer money on the property during a special meeting prior to the regular Nov. 3 City Council meeting. Some also questioned the future use of the building.
“You’re asking people to spend close to a million dollars, or it could be quite possibly a million dollars by the time you’re done, and we don’t have a purpose for the building besides fixing it up,” Smidt said.
A recent estimate from architectural firm LHB showed $838,589.50 worth of repairs is needed at the building. Of that, $518,092.50 is for work considered high priority. That includes an estimated $250,250 to reset the masonry wall on the east side of the building, $112,500 to replace the roof and $20,000 to repair interior finishes. Secondary priority work is estimated to cost $320,497. That includes $90,000 to repair the north wall, $56,000 to replace windows, $40,000 to reconstruct the north sidewall at the front stairs, $17,500 for repointing, $12,000 for repair of original transom windows, $12,000 for the front stairs and $3,600 for repointing of the south sidewall at the front stairs. Other costs related to mobilization, contingencies and general conditions are also included in the total cost estimate.
Swanson suggested again that if taxpayers are going to pay for the repairs, they should be able to vote on whether to proceed. Counselor Verdeen Colbeck said he thought the price was too high and he didn’t think the city could afford it. Counselor Danielle Thompson said she didn’t support using taxpayer dollars to pay for the repairs, but would be supportive of using grants that don’t require a matching contribution from the city.
“That being said, though, with grants often times you are required to put forth what you are going to do with the building once the grant is completed and the preservation has been done,” Thompson said. “That’s my next question. What are we going to do with this?”
Delaney said he was surprised to hear City Council members ask what the city was going to do with the building and saying they didn’t know what it would be used for.
“It was part of the grant process, what we’re doing with the building,” he said. “The proposal is to put in our Chamber of Commerce there and an art studio area, and a place for a local business to sell their art. That’s been a part of the process since the very beginning.”
According to the grant request, “After the completion of the project, the Carnegie Library building will house the Pipestone Chamber of Commerce and Visitor’s Bureau and an art gallery for underserved artist to display and sell their creations.”
Delaney said that plan would free up the current Chamber of Commerce building, which could be used for other purposes.
“If that building would have been available a year and a half ago, we would have had a good chance to have an Asian restaurant there with takeout and drive through because we had someone coming to our community and wanted to start a restaurant like that and couldn’t find a building,” he said.
Delaney said the thought process was never to put the burden of paying for the repairs to the building on the taxpayers. He said the intent was to seek grants and work on the repairs step by step.
Pipestone County Museum Executive Director Susan Hoskins, who is also a member of the Heritage Preservation Commission, which has recommended the city preserve the historic building, said at the start of the Nov. 3 special meeting that there are several different grants available for such projects through the state of Minnesota, some of which could pay for 100 percent of a project’s cost with no local match from the city, and offered to help with grant applications.
The grant that was awarded in 2024 required a $126,162 matching contribution from the city. LaBrune said during the Nov. 7 meeting that the city had $75,060 set aside for the matching contribution and that another $50,000 was included in the 2026 budget for maintaining city buildings. Shoring up the east wall as a temporary measure is estimated to cost $36,120, according to a quote obtained by the city.
In addition to requesting an extension for the grant, the city plans to see if the grant funds could be used for the roof as well as the wall. According to LHB, the State Historic Preservation Office reviews large construction grants after they’re awarded and, in doing so, determined that the work on the east wall should not be done without the work on the roof being done at the same time.