Painter wants decorative work on old vaults

Determining whether to spend any money to paint three original Victory safe doors as part of the restoration effort at the Flathead County Courthouse is under review by the county commissioners.

The vaults that housed three walk-in safes in the building when it was constructed 108 years ago are to remain in place after the renovation ends. The spaces will no longer function as safes — two are to become employee break rooms and the third will be used as a secure storage area for the elections department.

Pete Sifuentes, who told commissioners he considers himself an artisan and historian, offered to decoratively paint the doors in a fashion similar to what was done near the turn of the 20th century.

County officials are taking history into consideration as the construction project progresses, Sifuentes said, and the doors should be part of that effort.

“I’d like to see those doors restored to some semblance of how they were,” Sifuentes said.

Jed Fisher, the county building maintenance manager, said the project architect solicited bids to have the 5,500-pound doors painted with a decorative motif. Sifuentes originally bid about $900 per door, but told commissioners he’d drop his price to $650 a door “in the interest of history.”

Fisher said when new, more than 100 years ago, the doors cost around $5,000 each.

County employees can paint the doors with a solid color, Fisher said, but not the decorative painting that Sifuentes can add. Safe doors manufactured in the late 1800s and early 1900s typically included decorative paint, the two men said.

County Administrator Mike Pence said because the doors don’t have a specific historical tie to Flathead County, the construction plan didn’t include restoring the doors.

Commissioners, however, liked Sifuentes’s suggested designs.

“We’ll rediscuss it,” Commissioner Jim Dupont told Fisher and Sifuentes.

Reporter Shelley Ridenour may be reached at 758-4439 or sridenour@dailyinterlake.com.