Correction — June 18, 2018
This story has been corrected to indicate that at the time it was written, Les Bolton was the former executive director of the Grays Harbor Historical Seaport.
Most of the public comments at Wednesday’s Aberdeen City Council related to Saturday’s massive Armory fire, with some thanking the fire departments involved and others giving support to the building’s former tenants. But a couple of the speakers are already looking forward to rebuilding, and say followup action needs to happen soon.
Michael Dickerson, who spoke at the meeting, recommended the city go after $15 million to recover from Saturday’s fire that destroyed the Armory Building, which housed the Aberdeen Museum of History, the Coastal Community Action Program offices and the Senior Center. Dickerson feels the city needs to focus on securing the funds sooner rather than later while it’s a hot topic.
“One thing we have learned, and learned hard, is when you’re up to your rear end in alligators, and I know you are, now is the time to make plans and go after big money to restore and expand what you have,” said Dickerson. “You can look at this as a disaster, you can also look at this as an opportunity.”
One of Dickerson’s ideas was to ask Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Paul Allen for money to restore the museum and add a more comprehensive Kurt Cobain section. He also recommended the city meet with state and congressional representatives to find this funding.
Les Bolton, former executive director for the Grays Harbor Historical Seaport, agreed with Dickerson’s assessment to secure funding, saying “we have an incredible opportunity right now.” He noted there are buildings downtown he thinks would be suitable to relocate the museum to.
“We do have empty and historic buildings downtown, and we’ve got a great story to tell,” said Bolton. “There are people out there who would help us tell those stories.”
Dickerson said the old electrical building, located at 100 East Heron St., would be his top choice for a new museum venue, and thinks somewhere downtown would be better than the old location to attract more tourism.
Aberdeen Mayor Erik Larson said that building is a possibility, but he noted that the owner already has plans to develop it.
“That does currently have an owner that has a plan in development for that space,” Larson said at the meeting. “So that’s something I think people are saying a little too lately. That person might not appreciate people saying, ‘Well, let’s turn this building into something even though we don’t own it and somebody is already developing plans.’ I think that’s potentially an option.”
According to the county Assessor’s website, the electric building has a total market value of $229,514.
Larson also mentioned the Grays Harbor Historical Seaport as somewhere he’s considered as a new venue for the museum. Larson added that by next week he hopes to have a meeting to discuss future plans for the organizations, but not until the fire investigation is done.
“I think there’s an opportunity for a discussion to be had, that should happen sooner rather than later,” he said. “But I wanted to wait until we’re a little more stable, and not flying by the seat of our pants and have a better picture of how we’re moving forward.”
