What does the future hold for the Pekin Township Building?

PEKIN (25News Now) - Pekin Township and their structural engineering team, Farnsworth Group, are meeting with the City board at 4:00 p.m. Friday to decide if the rest of the township building will stay or go.

The clean-up of what was left wrapped up earlier this week, and the site is ready for its next steps. Mayor Mary Burress says she hopes things don’t have to change.

“I hope they can stay right there if it has to come down; I hope they’re willing to rebuild in the same area,” said Mayor Burress. “We don’t want Pekin Township to have to move somewhere else; it’s been known there for many years, so we’d love to keep them there.”

Farnsworth Group, a structural engineering team, inspected the 420 addressed part of the building that still stands, and they plan on presenting what they found to the City board. They will go over what damage they found, the cost of repairs, and the required code upgrades, and then the Township will go from there with the possibility of complete demolition.

If Farnsworth decides it is safe, Chief Building Official Nic Maquet says there will be a lot of repairs.

“There are areas of concern; there are cracks. I cannot determine if they were pre-existing or caused by the structural failure of the 418 side, but regardless, repairs will have to be made,” said Maquet.

Mayor Burress says she contacted Congressman Darin LaHood and Representative Travis Weaver to see if they can provide any federal or state dollars to help with the loss.

“They lost all their food; they had a food pantry there, they lost all of that. They lost two commercial site freezers. I don’t even know if they have their computers out of there yet. So they’ve lost a lot,” said Mayor Burress.

Mayor Burress says she doesn’t know if another building will be built in that empty lot because it was already too close to the law office next door.

“If the Congressman or our Representative come through with funds, I hope that will help them,” Mayor Burress said.

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