T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY During Monday night’s meeting, the Marshalltown city council approved the plans and specifications for repairs to the doghouse area in the back of the buildings at 21 and 23 W. Main St., which are currently vacant and owned by the city after being acquired through a court-ordered sale.

The Marshalltown city council voted unanimously to move forward with plans to renovate the “doghouse” in the back of a vacant building on West Main Street currently owned by the city during Monday night’s meeting.

According to Housing and Community Development Director Deb Millizer, the project will address the structural failure of the doghouse addition with work including demolition, new framing, roofing, windows and doors, plaster, tuckpointing, asbestos abatement and a new fire escape with foundation stabilization included as an alternate. It will be funded by council designated Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) dollars committed in 2023 as part of downtown revitalization efforts.

As Mayor Joel Greer opened up the floor for comments, Councilor Gary Thompson estimated that with the $200,000 estimate and other commitments, the city will have invested between $500,000 and $700,000 in the buildings at 21 and 23 W. Main St. He posed the question to the council of the minimum amount they would accept for the buildings after they have been renovated and how long they’ll sit vacant until they get that amount of money.

“Or do we do the unthinkable and bite the bullet and spend the $200,000 to tear them down, which I would just hate, but before I vote to spend $200,000 more of taxpayers’ money, are we gonna sell these buildings, I guess, is what I’m asking,” he said.

Greer recalled that the council had already decided to proceed under the direction to repair the buildings and put them up for sale. Thompson expressed concern about sealed bids coming in at a low number like $60,000, the council rejecting the bid and going through multiple rounds.

Councilor Barry Kell replied that there was still additional work to be done and engineering estimates to be collected, so he didn’t feel comfortable throwing out a firm dollar amount yet. He also noted that there are other methods besides the sealed bid process that could be explored.

Millizer remarked that she wasn’t sure about the origin of the doghouse name, which prompted Public Works Director Heather Thomas to step up to the speaking podium. She described it as a “legacy” term and explained that in the back of the two buildings, there’s a single story with a back wall, shared walls on the sides and a roof.

The initial plan was to remove the entire structure and build a covering over the stairs to the basement, and at that point, the terminology used to describe the covering over the stairwell was a doghouse. After a conversation with an engineering firm, Thomas said it was determined that it was more cost effective to rebuild the entire first story.

“Technically, it’s not really a doghouse anymore, but that was the legacy name the project was given,” she said.

Thompson then commented that he didn’t want to tear the buildings down but wanted to make sure the council was thinking about how much they would accept for them and appreciated Kell’s comment on selling the buildings through methods other than sealed bidding. With no further comments, a motion to proceed with the plans and specifications as outlined in the council packet passed by a unanimous vote.