OTIS — Last Dec. 15’s high winds left the Otis community’s youth without a meeting place and its officials with some difficult decisions.

On Monday, the Otis City Council hosted a Town Hall meeting to gain residents’ input on what should be done with the 100-year-old building at 121 S. Main Street, which until recently had been utilized as the community’s “Cougar Pause” Teen Center for the past 37 years.

A small representative sample of the community’s 200-plus residents attended the informational meeting in the gymnasium of Otis-Bison Elementary School.

A field investigation had been requested by Otis Mayor Jenny Landers. It was conducted through visual inspection by Mauler Engineering, Wichita, at a cost to the city of about $2,500, and the resulting report was shared at the meeting.

“The reason it took until now to schedule this meeting is after the windstorm and our county being in a federal disaster, we had to wait until FEMA would tell us. They won’t ever tell us to tear a building down or that we have to fix it; it would be up to us. It took quite a while before they told us that,” she said. 

Councilman Kent Reinhardt informed the group that the report revealed roof damage due to the windstorm, but also identified longtime structural deterioration to the brick walls.

“It’s worth it to know that the building is not going to fall on us if we go inside, but it does need work,” Mayor Landers noted.

“The engineer said that if we wanted to make all the repairs needed in one fell swoop, we’d be looking at $100,000 to make the building usable,” Reinhardt said. “Not like new, but safe. The purpose of this meeting is to find out if the residents of Otis want to spend that kind of money on this building.”

Councilman Mike Sharkey noted that if the $100,000 was utilized, it would extend the life of the building a maximum of another 20 years. 

A “top-notch” rebuild, Mayor Landers noted, would run at about $500,000. 

Reinhardt noted that several of the city’s buildings, including the teen center, the library and the city office building, had been built in the 1920s with the understanding they would have a 100-year service life without continuous maintenance. “We’ve reached that,” he said. “We’ve kept the city building and the library up a little bit better than the teen center, but there will be additional funds going into it in the long run.”

The building currently stands adjacent to the Otis City Park.

Mayor Landers noted that the teen center, which originally housed a parts store and machine shop for Ochs Inc., was possibly built with the intention that more streetside buildings would follow. “The north side is constructed of interior brick,” she said. “They possibly built that building thinking there would be another one there. It’s a softer brick than the other exterior walls; that leads into problems.”

Sharkey noted that insurance money received for the building damage of about $40,000 would either go to fixing the roof or to demolition of the building. “There probably won’t be any of that left over,” he said. 

“We’d really like to have some feedback on this,” Reinhardt said.

A place to meet

Councilmember Tabetha McVey, who also serves on the Teen Center Board, said that in recent years, attendance at functions had dropped. “When we do have activities, it’s usually the same few kids that attend,” she said. “It’s a joy to have (the building) for them, but even trying to get people on the board is a struggle. “The year before COVID hit, we really tried to pick up on events. We were having younger kids than what the true Teen Center is. We started doing things that also involved the elementary kids. With our community, being as small as it is, it’s just as important to have a center point for all kids to be a part of and have fun.”

Councilman Sharkey presented another alternative.

“There are some ideas floating around about a new fire station,” he said. “With the fire station, there could be room for maybe some city offices, safe rooms and bathrooms.” A building design was sought about a year ago for an 80-foot by 120-foot building that had five truck bays and approximately half the space that could be utilized by the community.

Sharkey noted that the fire department had started an account to build a new building. “At this time, the fire department is looking into grants. We’re talking about three years down the road,” he said. “We do have a start on it.”

In the interim, Councilmember McVey noted that Shelly DeWald, owner of the Tumbleweed restaurant in Otis, had offered to host some Teen Center meetings there.

“There are a lot of things that we’ve done outdoors that wouldn’t require a building,” McVey said. “The park is always accessible. There are ways to do it.”

Looking ahead

Seeking and receiving grant funding would play a large part in what lies ahead, Mayor Landers said.

“For us, we’d have to have it in the budget. We would have to have grants.” 

“There isn’t a good date range for this,” Sharkey noted. “We can get started on the process right away, but it might be three, four years.”

Further discussion will likely appear as an agenda item at the upcoming city council meeting on Wednesday, May 11, Mayor Landers noted.