At a meeting Tuesday with Redevelopment Agency top staffers, four councilmen ordered redevelopment director Carrie Bedord to research costs for demolishing the circa-1900 structure. 

Mayor Gus Skropos did not hide his desire to get rid of the building. 

"Let's torch it -- let the Fire Department play with it," Mayor Gus Skropos said, suggesting firefighters use the building at 210 S. Fern Ave. for practice, rather than pay a contractor to demolish it. 

"We want it done as fast as possible." 

The building, which city officials said Ontario purchased in 1989 for about $1 million, has been vacant for several years. 

Skropos said the city has been unable to find any developer interested in using the old hotel. 

"We've spent a lot of money, and we've spent six years trying to find a use for it," he said. 

"In the meantime, it's deteriorated and become an eyesore. It's a situation where frankly the facility should be demolished." 

Sheila Mautz, chairwoman of Ontario's Planning Commission, said the city needs to work harder to find a use. 

"I understand why (demolition) may be necessary because I understand vandals have gotten inside and it's rubble, but it would be nice to save it," Mautz said. 

"It's hard to imagine we can't find someone interested in using it." 

Mautz suggested officials should be held responsible for allowing the hotel to deteriorate over the past seven years. 

"It would have been nice if something had been done to preserve it when it was first acquired," she said. 

"I'm never in favor of throwing taxpayer's money away. … It would be hard for me to believe we should torch it." 

The building is in good physical shape, although the interior is badly damaged, said deputy redevelopment director Lee Mayfield. 

"It's structurally sound, as far as an old structure with a wood frame can be," Mayfield said. 

"The problem is the interior is absolutely gutted." 

In 1995, city officials estimated renovating the building would cost between $500,000 and $1 million. Mayfield, whose agency has a $135 million budget, said no funds are available to rebuild the hotel. 

"Everybody wants to save it, but nobody has any money to save it," he said.