Gazebo Group Called Back Tuesday To Announce Plans

The efforts by a group of citizens to save the Crawford County Courthouse gazebo could meet its fate — good or bad — Tuesday at the weekly commission meeting.

Crawford County commissioners gave the group one more week to present a plan for renting a crane, crane operator and having the roof of the decades-old structure removed.

If the group could raise the funds for the crane, Crawford County will go through the purchase of a pre-made structure from 5 Star Buildings in Cuba. The roof of the old gazebo would be placed on the base of the new one.

The roof would have to be stored somewhere else while concrete work is performed at the courthouse.

If the group cannot raise the funds, the county may have to go through with the original plan, which was purchasing an entirely new gazebo from 5 Star.

The latest twist came after a contentious meeting October 23 when some of the group members questioned a report from Kevin Parr of Midwest Public Risk. 

Parr presented his findings on the gazebo to commissioners on October 9 and that his personal recommendation would be removal.

When Kevin Green, one of the members of the group, learned about Parr’s report October 16, he began to question the process.

Green contacted Parr over the phone between the October 16 and October 23 meetings. Presiding Commissioner Leo Sanders invited Parr to the October 23 meeting to answer any questions the group had.

Security

Green asked Parr if he had since the gazebo since it was boarded up and if he would agree that it’s more secure now than it has been.

“No,” said Parr, explaining that boarding it up is a temporary solution and doesn’t eliminate the liability risk. Parr called the gazebo an “attractive nuisance.” Green claimed nobody could climb on top of the gazebo, but Parr said that was not true. 

Timing of Visit

It was clear that Green was suspicious of Parr’s visit. He asked Parr when he last visited, what prompted the October 9 visit, if he was asked to come to Steelville and if he was at the courthouse specifically for the gazebo.

Parr said he was in Crawford County 14 months ago, that it was a random visit and he was already planning to come.

“None of our visits are ‘gotchas,’” Parr said, adding they do drop-ins. Parr’s visit was to check on the exterior of all the county buildings and the gazebo just happened to be one of those.

After some discussion on codes and third parties, Green once again asked Parr if he inspected the gazebo.

“Yes, I think we covered that.” Green began reading off some of the findings that were printed by Three Rivers Publishing. He questioned Parr’s use of a level and his measurements of the posts. 

“Where are you going with this?” Parr asked. “Can’t we agree that as it sits it’s not appropriate to be open to the public? Green said yes and Parr asked whether they were going to move forward with a plan or “pick, pick, pick.”

Green then said he hasn’t seen the report and that he couldn’t determine whether the items published in the newspapers were accurate or not. 

“I”m not here to talk about the paper and my quotes,” Parr said. “Are we going to get options to move forward?”

Sanders stepped in and said that Parr was not invited to be put on trial. Green apologized for putting Parr on the spot.

District 2 Commissioner Jared Boast later interrupted and called it a “convoluted process.” Boast said he could not figure out how the discussion had digressed so far and strayed from the original plan. 

The discussion continued on for nearly another hour before the commission and the group settled on a plan: the group would get a price from a crane operator, determine if they had the funds and where the roof would be placed until the new base was constructured.