MELFORT — There may be a new occupant for the former Melfort Chamber of Commerce building.
The Melfort Kinsmen Club have approached the city with an idea to utilize the building for a Kin Lodge, that would provide a facility for their regular meetings.
“From the city’s perspective, it’s seen as a good fit,” said Rick Lang, Melfort’s mayor. “To have a service club that’s valuable to the city to come forward and see some use for it.”
Previously, the building belonged to the Melfort Chamber of Commerce. It was put up for auction in August 2018, with the highest bid being $15,500. The chamber rejected the offer.
In April 2019, the city purchased the building for an amount that wasn’t disclosed to the public.
In a media release at the time, the chamber said it would use the sale proceeds to retire the outstanding debt of $36,000 in unremitted payroll expenses and another $4,000 in unpaid bills.
On March 2, the City of Melfort presented a draft of a five year lease for the building to council.
The Kinsmen will have the option to sign the lease as is, or make modifications.
Trevis McConaghy, president of the Melfort Kinsmen, said they want the facility to create a usable space for a building that hasn’t been in use.
Currently, the Kinsmen have been occasionally renting space from the Melfort Agricultural Society.
“We don’t want to compete with other facilities, but the location’s ideal – being in Spruce Haven,” McConaghy said. “They have a plan for Spruce Haven and we could help the community better the site. So it would help us, it would help the Kinettes, it would help other community organizations and it would help the community.”
One issue found by the city was that the building needs repairs and renovations to make the space suitable for the Kinsmen’s intended use. It is estimated that the required repairs to bring the property back to like new condition would be from $30,000 to $50,000.
The City has proposed that the Kinsmen complete the necessary work subject to city approval in return for a credit towards future rent. Based on the estimated cost of the improvements, the city expects they would not get any net revenue for three to five years.
“The Kinsmen are a vital part of the community, one of our valued service groups, and so it seemed like a good fit for the time being,” Lang said.
