Waukon City Hall administrative and business offices temporarily relocate to Courthouse and Relief Office

Per the professional recommendation of the City of Waukon’s engineering firm, MSA Professional Services, the City of Waukon offices currently housed in City Hall at 101 Allamakee Street were scheduled to begin vacating the building Tuesday, February 3.

City of Waukon officials announced Thursday afternoon, January 22 the decision to vacate City Hall until the building’s structural integrity could be fully assessed following some noted areas of concern within the building and further assessment being deemed necessary.

Due to the move, public service availability Tuesday, February 3 would be greatly impacted, as access to the building was restricted to authorized personnel only, and all entrances, along with certain adjacent sidewalk areas, were secured and barricaded.

Beginning Wednesday, February 4, Waukon City offices will temporarily operate out of the former Allamakee County Relief Office, located at 12 1st Avenue NW, just across the street to the south of the Allamakee County Courthouse. Utility billing services and general inquiries and service will be conducted at this location. The water bill drop box will also be relocated to this site.

For addressing letters and bill payments made by mail, the following mailing address should be used:
City of Waukon
P.O. Box 179
Waukon, IA 52172

Waukon’s City Manager, City Clerk, and Finance Director offices will be temporarily located within the Allamakee County Courthouse. Residents wishing to meet with these officials will need to schedule appointments by contacting them directly, with the City Hall phone number (563-568-3492) expected to be transferred to the new temporary office locations. Their contact information can also be found on the City of Waukon website at https://www.cityofwaukon.com/ under the “City Info” tab near the top of the web page.

“The City of Waukon remains committed to maintaining a high level of service during this transition,” shared City of Waukon officials. “We appreciate the public’s patience and understanding as we work through this temporary relocation and will continue to provide updates as information becomes available.”

In October (2025), EMC, the City of Waukon’s insurance provider, conducted a regular inspection of the City Hall building. As a result of that inspection, the City was provided with several recommendations to address various building-related concerns. One of those recommendations was to hire a licensed structural engineer to evaluate the building.

The City’s engineering firm, MSA Professional Services, subsequently engaged a structural engineer to perform this inspection. Based on the findings, MSA determined that additional and more invasive investigation would be necessary to fully assess the building’s overall structural integrity.

This level of inspection will require partial demolition of certain building components. Until that evaluation can be completed and the building’s true structural condition is fully understood, MSA has recommended that the City Hall building be unoccupied.

Waukon City Manager Grayson Rowlet says city officials have been working on determining a firm to conduct the further evaluation of the building. He said there is no specific timetable in place at this point but roughly estimates that the search for and hiring and scheduling of a firm to complete that evaluation could likely carry into the late spring/early summer with a comprehensive report anticipated to follow by late summer, should that timeline for securing a firm fall into place as estimated.

“MSA’s inspection in December (2025) was cursory and surface level in nature,” Rowlet explained. “While they found obvious structural concerns, a firm specializing in historic building remediation would need to be enlisted. This is outside of my expertise, but based on my understanding from MSA, such a firm would need to remove components of the building (layers of bricks, plaster, ceiling tiles, foundations, etc.) so they can expose the ‘bones’ and get a good look to document the condition. This would be needed to determine the extent of the structural condition, which is believed to be not so great, but technically unknown. For instance, since the exterior brick was recently tuck-pointed, it’s difficult to see some of the deterioration from the outside, but it’s likely there. For instance, they’d remove a layer of bricks to expose it, document it, and put the bricks back.”

Rowlet said he expects there will be much more to share on what the comprehensive evaluation would entail. He anticipates that if a specialist firm is selected to conduct the evaluation, they would present their findings in detail on the scope of the project.

MSA identified several areas of significant concern during the initial inspection. These include, but are not limited to, large cracks in the former elevator shaft, notable movement in multiple walls (particularly the east wall adjacent to the current office space), separation between the roof and the east wall, a visible bulge in the south wall, and an outdated electrical system.

The timeline of further action being taken regarding Waukon City Hall will be determined as the investigative evaluation process takes place. Additional updates will be provided as more information becomes available.