FAIRMONT — Fairmont’s City Council is hoping to enter an agreement to potentially purchase the old BB&T building at 120 Fairmont Ave. before the new council takes office in 2023.
Initially proposed last month, the city is eyeing the property to expand city offices and to relocate the Fairmont Police Department. The police force is currently housed in the public safety building, but between outgrowing the space and structural concerns, the department wants to relocate.
At the Oct. 11 meeting when the ordinance was first proposed, council entered a heated debate over the agreement and several council members had questions about the proposal.
The ordinance failed to pass on 4-5 vote. However, seeing the police department’s need, the council agreed to reconvene on the subject in a work session to hash out the details.
That work session preceded Wednesday’s regular city council meeting. Councilmembers Rick Garcia, David Kennedy and Josh Rice spent most of the session clearing up their questions about the purchase agreement.
The specifics of the agreement boil down to a non-binding $550,000 purchase, pending inspections and viability investigations to be carried out by the city. The confusion stemmed from the level of commitment the city was entering by passing the ordinance.
By the end of Wednesday night’s discussion, the majority of the council seemed to agree, with the exception of Kennedy, who was still against the idea of purchasing an old building to remodel.
Councilmember Barry Bledsoe was against the initial ordinance, but was absent from Wednesday’s meeting.
Mayor Tom Mainella maintained the support he voiced in October and reiterated that Wednesday night.
“I think this is really an opportunity to upgrade infrastructure that needs substantial money put into it,” Mainella said. “I think we’ll be getting more bang for our buck if we go up there and redo that building as long as there’s nothing majorly wrong with it.”
City Manager Valerie Means said she plans to reintroduce the original ordinance at the Nov. 22 council meeting, which is the last chance to introduce new business to the council before the newly-elected council is seated.
Regular session
The council’s regular session following the work session was fairly standard.
The most notable agenda item was the passage of two ordinances involving new contracts with unionized city employees.
At council’s last meeting, Means and union rep J.D. Wilson spoke about the collective cooperation between the city and the union, a relationship that can easily turn tenuous.
Wednesday, Means spoke in favor of both ordinances recommending council to pass the measures.
“I ask that council approve this ordinance,” Means said. “We had a very good several weeks of negotiations and we’ll have a sound contract here moving forward.”
The ordinances passed unanimously.
In other business:
- Council approved a grant application from the planning department to pursue a $500,000 grant from the EPA to conduct environmental tests around the city.
- Council heard a request from a local business owner to amend an ordinance prohibiting the use of consumer fireworks for demonstration and sales purposes.
The council’s next meeting will be Nov. 22 at 7 p.m. in the Public Safety Building on Quincy Street.
