By Cecilia Nasmith/Today’s Northumberland
Northumberland County council’s Public Works Committee meeting has tossed the ball to the full county council meeting on March 18 for a decision on whether to keep or demolish the old Golden Plough Lodge.
The vote came Monday after the committee received a report on Director of Public Works Denise Marshall on what it would cost to keep the building, following up on county council’s January decision to pause the demolition and investigate what the alternative might cost.
Marshall’s report listed a multiplicity of concerns in keeping the building, starting with the security features – fencing, cameras, lighting.
“And then there are the on-going costs for utilities, maintenance, just to keep it optional – pest control and insurance costs, among other things,” she added.
Repairs must go on where they are needed to keep the building operational, she continued – when the roof leaks or the pipes need repair. And while security patrols will be needed, she would also recommend regular staff inspections to ascertain when such repairs are needed.
Marshall’s report listed a number of one-time costs at $17,000, with routine on-going costs amounting to $667,000 for the remainder of 2026. And none of this has been budgeted for.
“Ultimately the building is end-of-life,” she declared.
The last building-condition assessment was performed in 2017 when it was being debated whether to continue with the old building or construct a new one. The latter option was chosen and, in the meantime, the building was maintained but not really invested in.
Committee member John Logel noted that annual costs to keep it standing would be $870,000.
Deputy Warden Mandy Martin – who is on her second council term – recalls similar debates from the previous term when former Plough administrator Bill Detlor delivered regular reports on what was going wrong with the building.
“Here we are discussing maintaining a building for which we have no purpose,” Martin said.
“There have been suggestions made that it be a warming centre, but this is all pie in the sky.”
Meanwhile, council is faced with paying $870,000 a year “for something we don’t know what to do with fundamentally.”
Committee chair Scott Jibb, whose background is in the Hamilton Township building department, said he wouldn’t mind a tour of the building himself to get a first-hand look.
“We have a building. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could use it,” Jibb said.
“Well, sometimes it’s not the ‘nice’ we need to go to. We need to go to the hard facts, the circumstances, the engineering, the mechanicals.
“Many times, when you are dealing with an old building, it’s more practical to demolish and start fresh – a better use of money than trying to keep putting a Band-aid on something that’s old, because it’s always going to be old.”
