New building could be erected downtown soon

auction winner is, but you can reject any and all bids."

The particular issue is that when a particular person wants to buy the property and under the law the city cannot say that they can sell it to that person without it going to a full bid process

"It's a potentially risky thing if you've got one particular item in mind, there's no guarantee that's going to occur" said Tidwell has approached him about the sale of the space between City Hall and Abby's Restaurant that is owned by the city

Councilman Sam Haigis made the comment that one would assume that someone who may be interested in the process should be smart enough to put a bid in that would be successful.

Shephard told the council that the citizen is interested in constructing a building on the property for commercial use

"The city can sell it by auction or bid." Shephard told the council. "We cannot sell it with the rights to dictate what goes in there, but if they put a building in, they'll have we want in "

Council member Bill French asked if the city could control what kind of material the building is made of "Point being is that we have an almost pretty downtown right now unless somebody builds another big ugly metal building or multi-family dwelling or something." said French.

Shephard responded that the city can control the look of the new structure because of the zoning ordinances that are in place. Mayor Jeff Stanley also

As far as the bidding process goes, city attorney James Tidwell told the council that when the city sells real estate, the general rule is that the city is looking for the most money unlike an individual trying to sell a house who has the option to select who the buyer is

"The cities are required by statute to sell by either a public auction or a sealed bidding which opens it up to the entire public." said Tidwell. "You don't get to pick who the

Tidwell recommended that the city should get a survey done first especially since the building is sitting next to City Hall "You don't want to go down the road and find some issue with the way that you listed the property for sale " said Tidwell "A lot of times those property lines don't fall exactly where they thought they fell just because the buildings have been there for a hundred years "

The council authorized Shephard to receive sealed bids for the property