Lansford Borough Council talked about seeking federal grants to rehabilitate or tear down the old middle school building on Patterson Street Tuesday night.

Councilwoman Michele Bartek said two federal grants are available right now for old structures, like the hulking brick school which has sat vacant for nearly two decades.

One grant is to raze older buildings and build new ones, she said, and the other is to rehabilitate.

Bartek floated the idea of saving the building and using it as police station and borough offices — and possibly renting out the additional space as offices, possibly legal.

“If we can get a hold of that building — it’s pretty much an eyesore, nobody is doing anything to it … but it would be a perfect place to put a new police station and borough building,” she said.

Resident Joe Genits said that the borough had the opportunity to take the building in 2007, but that council agreed and then changed its mind.

Some councilmen wanted to use it as a borough building then, Genits said, and he had several buyers interested at $100,000 minimum back then, as well. But the borough had an opportunity and didn’t take it, he said.

Council President Bruce Markovich said that it was a big mistake not taking the building then.

Genits suggested that someone talk to the current owner and ask him if he’d be interested in donating the building, much as Silberline did with the now borough property along Dock Street.

Another resident, Tommy Vadyak, wasn’t in favor of the borough acquiring the building, because they don’t know the condition. He said that there were 55-gallon drums catching water from the roof.

The borough doesn’t have the money to take over the building, and borough workers would be tasked with maintenance, Vadyak said. Plus, the borough would have to insure it, he said.

“There’s literally tons of asbestos in that building,” Markovich said. “All the interior walls are asbestos block.”

An estimate to remove all the asbestos came in at $500,000 years ago, Vadyak said.

Bartek said that’s why they would like to use the federal grant dollars, because of the high cost. Vadyak urged caution with the uncertainty of federal grants and funding with the new administration in Washington.

“They’re not frozen today,” Vadyak said. “You don’t know what next week is going to hold.”

Vadyak suggested they apply for the grant, but others said that the borough would need to own the building to do so.

“I don’t think we need to touch that building,” Markovich said. “I think that would be a mistake on our part.”

Bartek said she wanted to council to discuss the matter, because it would solve two problems — giving the borough the space it needs in the center of the borough, and getting rid of an eyesore.

“It’s a long-term project,” she said. “I’m not going to lie, because I know it’s going to take a lot of money — millions of millions of dollars.”

Markovich said that the estimate was $2 million to fix it back in 2007, and now it’s $3 million to tear it down.

Councilwoman Jennifer Staines said she could reach out to the owner and Genits said that he could, as well.

Bartek said she’d like to see council take some action on applying for grants to rehab the structure next week at their regular meeting.