BUCYRUS — The Bucyrus City Schools Board of Education found a way to restore one of the district’s most historic locations during its meeting Wednesday evening.
Representatives of the Crawford County Community Concert Association attended the meeting to offer their support in endeavors to repair decorative molding on the ceiling of the Bucyrus Elementary auditorium.
An approximately 5-foot long piece of decorative plaster fell from the ceiling causing the school to close the auditorium until further notice. The incident happened outside of school hours and no injuries occurred.
During the board’s December meeting, board members shared their concerns with the cost of replacement and safety risks involving the rest of the ceilings.
During Wednesday’s meeting, treasurer Ryan Cook provided estimates for different options provided by Quality Masonry Company, located in Marion. The options included replacing the molding, anchoring the molding to provide additional support and removing the molding in the auditorium all together.
Bill Bowers, owner of Quality Masonry, said the damage was caused by the loss of adhesion between the molding and the ceiling, a deficiency since the original construction.
Board member John Kime said he wanted to be sure whatever decision was made, it would be long lasting.
“In lasting the 90 years it did, did it do its job? I’d say yes,” Bowers said.
Bowers added he felt confident whichever option was selected, the facility would become safe and functioning again. He said the option to anchor the molding would reinforce the molding to not come down in the future.
He estimated the piece that had fallen to be approximately 30 pounds, which “could have been fatal if it had hit someone.”
The board decided to select two of the provided options, replace the fallen molding and anchor all the decorative molding in the auditorium. The project will cost just more than $18,000.
The decision came after CCCCA President Tom Holtshouse said he believed the association could cover as much as half of the cost of the project.
“We do have an endowment for improvements to the facility,” Holtshouse said. “We’ve only had it for about four years and have about $7,000 in it, but I think we could find the money to pay for half.”
Holtshouse said he could not give a definite answer until the association has a board meeting.
“We want to do everything possible to reduce the costs to the taxpayers,” he said. “We try our best to care for the facility when it is in our care.”
The board said it felt more comfortable moving forward.
“I feel a lot more at ease than I did at the end of the last meeting,” Kime said. “And I look forward to continuing to work with the public and concert association.”
Bowers said he believed his crews could complete the work by mid-February.