The Bainbridge City Council will begin exploring options for the future of the Shotwell Street building that houses the city purchasing department and the parts department. The building also houses the Recreation Authority for now.

When the Recreation Authority announced their plans to vacate the building for a new location, the City of Bainbridge was left with a decision of what to do with the building.

Due to the building’s location, the city can explore the option of vacating it and constructing a new building near the rest of their departments on Pierce Street.

“The site is in the wrong place for our needs,” said City Manager Chris Hobby. “Most of our city operations are located downtown or on Pierce Street, so having purchasing located all the way on the East end of Shotwell is not the most convenient.”

What led the city to look at relocating the building is the $80,000 in roof repairs on the current building.

The city owns roughly two acres of land across the street from the city shop on Pierce Street, which Hobby thinks could serve as a better location for the purchasing and parts department.

“That would be a better location, operationally,” said Hobby. “If we were able to sell the Shotwell Street property and make enough off that sale to construct a new facility, then that’s something we would be very interested in doing.”

The city had the Shotwell Street location appraised for $480,000 dollars but there lies a $150,000 investment within the Shotwell Street location.

“Our radio antenna is there,” said Hobby. “We just spent $150,000 upgrading that tower in 2012, so that is a consideration. In most likelihood, the tower has to stay right there and we have to maintain access to it.”

For Hobby, plan A is to sell the location and build a new location on Pierce Street. Plan B is to fix the roof and continue to operate out of the Shotwell Street location.