City issues ultimatum on café demo

If higbee’s Café is not fully demolished within the next month, the City of Sundance intends to do the work itself and bill the owners for the cost.

City Attorney Mark Hughes said during last week’s regular council meeting that he has been in touch with the lawyer for Darlene and Jason Coder and, “Let them know that the city is losing patience.”

Hughes told the council that he informed the lawyer that, sooner or later, the city will tear that building down and send them the bill. The lawyer was apologetic, he said, and demolition work did start up again soon after.

However, a significant portion of the old café is still standing.

The Coders had been asked to attend Tuesday’s meeting to share a progress report, but were not present.

In their absence, the council held a quick discussion about the current situation and considered options to deal with it.

The city has been concerned for several months about the potential safety hazards caused by demolishing the building, which sits in the center of the downtown area.

Because the support system juts out into the sidewalk, Mayor Paul Brooks grew increasingly worried about members of the public – specifically wheelchair users – needing to step out into the busy highway to get past it.

At March’s meeting, the Coders explained that nobody should be next to or inside the building anyway, as it is no longer stable. They shared with the council the snags they have repeatedly hit along the way and said they could not give a definite timeline for the demolition to finally be complete.

The demolition itself has been undertaken by contractors, who are aiming to save as many materials from the building as possible. Issues such as bad weather and only being able to work during evening hours have also slowed the process, the Coders said.

At the suggestion of Council Member Randy Stevenson, and to ensure that the site remains safe while the contractors work on it, Fire Chief Gari Gill was asked to enlist the help of the Gillette Fire Department to ensure the supports are sufficient to keep the building upright.

Unfortunately, said the mayor on Tuesday, fire department representatives concluded that the supports are inadequate and need to be beefed up.

With all that in mind, the council felt that it had been patient for long enough.

“If they don’t get it down in the next 30 days, it’s time for us to go out and do it,” said Brooks, volunteering to deliver that message to the Coders.