Future of Fort Scott could hinge on Western Insurance building

A meeting of the minds was held Friday morning to discuss the economic future of Fort Scott. The result of that meeting was that the future of Fort Scott rests on the health of the downtown area ... and the downtown area hinges on the Western Insurance building.

"The downtown area is the hub (of Fort Scott)," Citizens Bank Owner and Chairman Dean Mann said. Mann continued, saying that the Western Building is the hub of downtown.

About 30 local, state, and national leaders were assembled for the roundtable meeting at the Danny and Willa Ellis Family Fine Arts Center to discuss how having a business or several businesses in the building could revitalize the downtown area.

Discussions regarding the building included renovating the building to create a business center or business incubator similar to the facility created in Greensburg, Kan., that hosts start-up businesses that would then move out and a new one would move in.

Not all in attendance agreed that the Western Insurance building should be the top priority.

"From my perspective, we are beating a dead horse with this building downtown ... we've got a building (Cigna building) that is ready to be moved into," Bourbon County Economic Development Council President Steve Buerge said.

Mercy Health Center President and CEO Rita Baker said that the hospital has been in contact with a gentleman who is interested in occupying a portion of the Cigna building. She said that in the near future Mercy Health Center plans to open up a national search for potential occupants.

Currently the Western Building is privately owned by Paul House, Sr., who has failed to make any payments regarding the past due taxes. According to Fort Scott City Attorney Bob Farmer, the city has issued citations due to several nuisance issues including odor leaking into the neighboring Scottish Rite Temple. Farmer added that House has responded to the first few citations but has never showed up for court regarding the issues.

Farmer also said that with several issues with mold and asbestos, taking ownership of the building might not be something that the city should do. However, the city is moving through the legal process to take action on a building that could potentially be dangerous to the community.

"At this point, none of us know what we are dealing with," Farmer said. "We just need to push forward, which is the direction we have given the staff."

Fort Scott Director of Economic Development Dale Bunn said that the environmental cleanup would be something the city would have to consider. He said that if the city were to eventually take ownership of the property, the cleanup of the mold and asbestos would be the city's responsibility.

"Once we step in and take ownership of that building, we then become responsible for the cleanup," Bunn said. "We're talking a lot of money for that cleanup."

One option discussed in order to bypass the city taking ownership of the building is for a non-profit organization to take ownership. Danny Ellis, founder of The Ellis Foundation, suggested the possibility of a community foundation to raise money to purchase and rehabilitate the Western Insurance building.

The consensus of the group was that it will potentially take several years to make any progress with the Western Insurance building, which lead to the discussion of what do to in the meantime. The discussion then moved to working on rehabilitating some of the other vacant buildings in the downtown area, with active owners, to generate some success which could then be used as momentum when it comes time to address the Western Insurance building.

Included in that discussion was the rehabilitation of the second and third stories of the downtown buildings. Several in attendance agreed that by rehabilitating the living spaces above the businesses and having more people living downtown business would be more attracted to moving to the downtown area.

Local businessman Bill Brittain said that it is important to keep in mind that the problem with the Western Insurance building will not go away, and it should not be ignored.

"One thing I hope we don't do is walk away from the Western Building," he said.

Most in attendance agreed that what ever it is, something needs to be done with the building and that having it sit empty is not helping the community nor the economic development of Fort Scott.

"Here it is, just floating around, because nobody wants to deal with it," Ellis said.

"Whatever we do, we've got to get going," incoming Fort Scott City Manager Dave Martin said. "We need to get moving and the community needs to see that movement."