Delmont officials aren’t fully certain they want to foot a potentially expensive bill for repairs to the log cabin on the Shields Farm property.

But if they do, they need to start looking for logs as soon as possible.

Council voted 4-2 to spend up to $3,000 from its Shields Farm account on five 18-foot logs to replace some of the existing woodwork at the cabin, located on East Pittsburgh Street.

Council members Stan Cheyne and Becky Matesevac voted against the purchase.

“You have money coming out (of the Shields Farm account) for electrical repairs , we have money coming out for this (driveway) paving project, and we have this cabin,” Cheyne said. “My thinking is, there’s only so much money in the account.”

Council President Andy Shissler said the decision “comes down to: does council want to keep this cabin?”

If it does, borough public works head Bill Heaps said it could take up to a year to find logs of the right length and age.

While the Delmont Public Library holds a number of programs at the cabin, it also has some less-desirable residents that are able to get inside because of structural issues with some of the existing logs.

“The squirrels are in and out of there,” Heaps said.

Council has not developed an estimate for the full scope of work on the cabin. That work would include removing the roof, the first step in getting at the damaged logs, which are interlocked at the corners.

“You can’t just take a few logs out,” Heaps said. “You have to take it apart to get to them.”

Patrick Varine is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Patrick at 724-850-2862, pvarine@tribweb.com or via Twitter @MurrysvilleStar.

---

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)

---