Polo’s Congress School demolition on hold while city seeks grants to cover cost

POLO – The city of Polo is pumping the breaks on demolishing Congress School – at least for now.

Polo City Council members came to the consensus to not move forward with seeking bids to demolish the building during their Nov. 20 meeting. They are, however, asking Polo building inspector Casper Manheim to condemn the structure.

“I did some phone calls earlier today, and there still might be a chance that there’s money out there to get that torn down,” Alderman Randy Schoon said. “I think what we need to do to set everybody’s mind at ease about anything that might possibly happen up there is simply have Casper condemn the place.”

Alderman Joey Kochsmeier agreed.

“I was under the expectation that we were buying it in order to get grant money, not to use tax dollars to have it torn down the next day,” he said. “So I don’t feel comfortable with us just having it torn down unless we follow through with that.”

On Aug. 7, council members unanimously voted to spend up to $15,000 to buy Congress School, plus $2,500 for related expenditures, according to meeting minutes.

The building is located at 208 N. Congress Ave.

Schoon and City Clerk Sydney Bartelt didn’t object, but they cautioned other council members that there’s no guarantee Polo will be able to get a grant to demolish the school, and that it could take months to go through the application processes for grants.

“If we’re sitting here eight months from now, then I think we just need to bite the bullet and tear it down,” Schoon said.

Council members did not say what demolishing Congress School would cost, but Alderman Tommy Bardell mentioned it could be about $300,000.

Bardell said he feels they need to do more due diligence before spending that kind of money.

Public Works Director Kendall Kyker said that Congress School, while in disrepair, isn’t in danger of collapsing on anyone, so there’s no harm in holding off.

“We’ve talked about, in other areas, having shovel-ready projects ready to go if the grant comes along,” Alderman Keith Chesnut said. “Well, we’ve got a bulldozer-ready project if this one comes along.”