BROOKINGS — At a special session Thursday evening, the Aurora City Council “decided to officially condemn the building” that has served the community in multiple roles for more than a century.

“We had two different engineering firms come in and do a structural analysis of the basement and they felt it was no longer safe to have people in the building at any level,” explained Aurora Mayor Josh Jones. “It will no longer be used in any way, shape or form. And that is all of the finance building, the community center and the little hall — all three sections (of the building).

“The little hall was our main multi-purpose area. That’s where we held all of our City Council meetings; the (American) Legion used as their facility.”

While it’s a single building, it’s sub-divided by walls into several sections that serve a variety of functions.

While the building has a second floor, the mayor explained that “it has been off-limits for some time. It was very rundown and there were some concerns. It’s an older building there’s probably asbestos upstairs, things like that. We didn’t feel it was safe; there’s really nothing up there. It was kind of sealed off.”

Turning to the basement, Jones noted that it “had lots of issues with water leakage part of the year, springtime.”

In its more than a century of use, the building has had no major renovations or upkeep, only “some minor things but nothing major or structural was ever done to maintain the integrity of the building.”

“I’m the new mayor in Aurora,” he added, noting that he began his four-year in May 2022.

“I’ve been questioning why nothing has ever been done. … This hasn’t happened overnight. In the past few months there’s been some major deterioration. That’s what brought in some of the concerns.”

— Contact John Kubal at jkubal@brookingsregister. com.