The Rotary Agriplex doors are closed.

Bill Hadden, District of 100 Mile House councillor, made the motion to close the facility at the Oct. 27 council meeting.

Hadden and others, including engineer Jeff

Crawford, did an inspection of the building in July and found a great deal of rot.

“With that knowledge, I would have no problem closing that building or moving to close that building until it’s fixed,” said Hadden.

Crawford completed a report with recommendations that included the removal of the building to the fourth arch and construction of a new north end wall.

In order to guarantee this building meets the structural requirements of the British Columbia Building Code, he said, the recommendations needed to be followed.

Peter Castonguay, Rotary Agriplex president, said the club would probably be exercising their option with the Cariboo Regional District (CRD) to sell the building back for the nominal $1 they originally paid for the building.

“There is a clause in our contract if we are unable to use the building, we can return it to the CRD.”

Castonguay added there is a user group interested in pursuing repairs to the building, but with insurance and liability issues, the Rotary Club has no real option.

There are some retrievable assets so the money spent hasn’t been a waste, he said.

In 2006, Northern Development Initiative Trust granted the Rotary Club $104,500 on a $192,400 project that included a moveable stage, washroom, doors and windows, ceiling paint, kitchen equipment and upgrades to the reception area.

Hadden said the money was used for those items.

CRD chair Al Richmond said he hasn’t received anything from the Rotary Club and, therefore, the Agriplex still belongs to the club.

He agreed there were terms in the contract that the club could turn the facility back to the CRD. However, he added the regional district would face the same constraints.

Richmond said a previous estimate made eight to 10 years ago to replace the front of the building and use it as an arena, was $2.5 million, “and that was old dollars.”

The CRD didn’t feel that was a good investment, Richmond said, adding he believes there has

been further deterioration since then.