Submitted photo Workers are already tearing the floor from inside the Clarkfield Gym that is slated to be demolished despite pleas from some residents to save it.

CLARKFIELD — The newer school gym in Clarkfield is slated for demolition despite objections from a group of city residents.

Eight guests discussed the fate of the gym with Yellow Medicine County officials at Tuesday’s board meeting. They asked commissioners to reconsider the gym demolition, and noted that they raised $16,000 for gym-related expenses in less than six weeks.

“The city council won’t listen to us,” said Naomi Peterson of Clarkfield, one the meeting attendees. “Everyone thought the gym would stay. People were in favor of keeping it. The council changed its mind at the last minute, and we didn’t have time to do anything.”

The gym demolition will be a final stage of a two-month demolition project involving Clarkfield’s former K-12 public school. The building had not been used for classes since 2008.

The county and city reached an agreement last summer that evenly splits the demolition costs. After hearing from citizens, commissioners approved the change order for the project contractor, which covers the added cost for the gym. They also approved payment for asbestos abatement in the gym area.

The city originally left the gym out of the project with the expectation of selling the property to an interested buyer. Officials learned in December that the buyer faces criminal charges in South Dakota, and was therefore unlikely to proceed with a purchase plan.

Since the contractor was still on site, council members approved the gym demolition in a special meeting. County commissioners gave their approval at the board’s organizational meeting on Jan. 7.

After more than an hour of discussion on Tuesday, board members said the most practical option is to follow the wishes of the city council.

“We have an agreement with the city to split the cost and be done with it,” said Commissioner Ron Antony. “I can’t see trying to save the gym when there’s no definite plan in place.”

Commissioner Gary Johnson said that even with money raised thus far the city would have faced considerable annual expenses to keep the gym, along with long term maintenance needs.

“If this kind of discussion would have started sooner, even just a year ago, we might have been able to save the gym and the whole elementary wing,” Johnson said. “It’s too late at this point. When we pencil it out, there are plenty of costs to consider.”

Commissioner Greg Renneke said the best time for a planning process would have been before the building became tax forfeited.

The Yellow Medicine East School District sold the building to a holding company based outside of Minnesota, which in turn sold it to a buyer who let it go into forfeiture after plans to utilize it were not successful.

Clarkfield resident Jean Lynner said during the meeting that the gym demolition leaves Clarkfield with no place for large gatherings. Neither the gym at Clarkfield Charter School nor the city hall building can house the same number of people.

Residents added that the gym could have served as a much-needed multi-purpose activity space for children and families.

After the meeting, they said they do not plan to take any further action to try to stop the demolition, such as petitioning the court for an injunction. They said, however, that the gym is likely to be remembered as a missed opportunity to keep a potentially valuable asset.

“This will strike a blow in our community,” Lynner said. “It’s been filled with people in the past. There are so many situations where it could still have been used, but now we won’t have it.”