St. Ignatius fundraiser launched

As the future of St. Ignatius still hangs in limbo, Colfax Unified Executive Director Valoree Gregory has started a GoFundMe fundraiser to save the derelict building. Gregory started the fundraiser online last week with the hope of being able to raise enough money to cover costs of repairs on the hospital.

As of Tuesday morning, $575 of the $5,000 goal had been raised.

The City of Colfax in March posted signs around the building, marking it as unsafe to enter and leaving it closed off. The hospital for nearly the past two years has been the site of Haunted Hospital tours organized by the Colfax Downtown Association.

The association leases the building from owner Anthony Girges, who lives in California. The city sent Girges a report of its inspection.

Mayor Todd Vanek said the city is trying to work with Girges to determine the future of the building.

“He hasn’t been responsive as far as our original letter,” said Vanek.

Vanek said what happens next will be determined by Girges.

“We are working with the property owner,” he said.

Gregory has said

she would like to be able to see a list of what is wrong with the building so that it can be fixed to be made safe for tours to resume.

Gregory said she is trying to work with a structural engineer to have the building inspected. In March, the Downtown Association brought in its own contractor and structural engineer to look at the building. Their services were offered free of charge, and they noted areas that were not safe and needed to be blocked off. They indicated they found the building’s overall to be structurally safe.

Vanek told the Gazette that report was not sufficient to re-open the building.

“Their last report wasn’t formal, and it needed to be more of a formal report,” he said.

Vanek added the city does not work with building tenants to correct issues.

“It needs to come from the property owner,” he said. “We can’t take a letter from a third party.”

If the Downtown Association was to bring in a structural engineer, Vanek said any report would need to go to Girges and then get to the city from Girges.

“Then we would look at it,” he said.

Vanek said Girges is essentially the missing piece to the puzzle right now.

“What they do is with the landowner. What we do is with the landowner,” he said. “He needs to deal with it. It’s not us telling them they can’t be in there.”

Gregory indicated Monday via text message that the association is looking to bring in a structural engineer and have a formal report issued. The fundraiser she started is intended to help with that cost.

“We will put the money towards paying the engineer and blocking off the bad areas to be able to continue tours,” she said.

Gregory has indicated she has a long list of people wanting to be able to go on a tour of the building. She said previously she hopes to be able to resume tours for the remainder of the association’s lease with Girges, which concludes at the end of September.