The Marthasville Board of Aldermen voted last week to proceed with full demolition of the town’s derelict hat factory building rather than retaining a portion of the facility for storage.

Demolition of the facility, located on North Two Street, had been put on hold midway through as city leaders debated whether to keep and rehabilitate a 4,000-square-foot section to store city equipment. The disagreement led to a bitter argument during a March 2 board of aldermen meeting, where a final decision was put on hold so that more information could be gathered.

During the board’s March 16 public meeting, Mayor David Lange presented cost quotes for closing in the city’s storage area once the rest of the factory is demolished around it. The work would include a new wall, new overhead garage door, and new entry door.

“It would cost $11,331 to get the building where it would be water tight and ready for storage again,” Lange said.

He added that he got a price on vinyl fencing to put around the building, which would cost around $4,000 for materials and an estimated $4,000 for labor, Lange explained. However, the fence would have to wait until other nearby projects are completed, including removal of the old water tower by the factory, he commented.

Lange’s position is that the storage area is useful for city operations, and that it would be wasteful to tear it down and then have to pay for some other storage shed in the future. He said the city has always intended to maintain at least a portion of the factory to keep equipment.

“We acquired that building to use it for storage. We’ve been storing a tractor, barricades and all kinds of stuff there for the last five years,” Lange commented.

But Alderman Chris DeVore, one of two aldermen strongly pushing for full demolition, argued that the waste would be to pay to fix a building he doesn’t believe the city needs.

“We’ve got plenty of space to put the stuff we have now, if we just utilize the space a little more efficiently,” said DeVore, adding that the city can plan to put up a minimalist shed in a different spot in the future.

After another frustrated exchange between Lange and Alderman Leo Meyer regarding the wisdom of removing the building, and what information was conveyed to potential demolition contractors about the project, it became clear that Meyer and DeVore would not be persuaded to keep the building. Alderman Nick Lange, meanwhile, maintained his agreement with the mayor that the building should stay.

That once again put a decision on the issue in the hands of Alderman Gary Dixon, who only just joined the board of aldermen in January and voted to delay demolition earlier this month.

“This is a can of worms I’ve been brought into,” Dixon commented.

He said that he had reviewed the agreements for the demolition and for the grant funding that helped pay for it, and said he is concerned about altering a project that got outside state funding. One of the stated objectives for the hat factory property was to turn it into green space, Dixon said, and he worries over potential repercussions from the state if that changes.

Ultimately, Dixon said he wanted his decision to end the conflict over the issue.

“I’m tired of hearing the back and forth,” Dixon said. “There’s too much bickering about it. ... Let’s just take it down and be done with it.”

Dixon, DeVore and Meyer voted to resume full demolition of the hat factory building. Nick Lange voted against.