The Bowling Green city commission covered a light agenda on Tuesday ahead of its annual special work session this Thursday.

The commission unanimously approved the purchase of Hodges & Adams Law Office, a building behind City Hall on 319 E 10th Avenue, for $1.2 million.

The vote authorized Mayor Todd Alcott and other city officials to execute the sale and other related documents. The deal also includes the garages connected to the City Hall Annex which the city is currently paying $7,000 to $8,000 a year to rent, said City Manager Jeff Meisel.

The expansion into the new building won’t be immediate, said Hillary Hightower, city attorney.

“We think any actual movement will be several years away because we haven’t budgeted to expand at this point,” Hightower said.

For that reason, the city agreed to allow Hoy Hodges to keep one room in the building for his office for up to four years while the city expands around him.

“We want to obviously try to save for this project and we still don’t have really any idea of what could move into that location and what type of facility we might be looking at,” said Katie Schaller-Ward, assistant city manager.

“So over the next few years, we’re going to figure those details out. And in the meantime, trying to save for that future CIP (Capital Improvement Program) project.”

The city commission also approved construction and accepted maintenance of three subdivision sections: Charlie Court in the Gary Property Subdivision; Logistics Court in the Franklin Berry Subdivision; and sections two and three of the Traditions Subdivision.

City Commissioner Dana Beasley-Brown applauded City Engineer Melissa Cansler for her team’s work inspecting developments that are looking for city approval.

She said that their diligence makes a big difference for citizens who can trust that the lots and businesses that they purchase have been constructed in a way that won’t lead to future issues.

Meisel added that Cansler’s team doesn’t “accept things that are broken,” which keeps the city from accepting responsibility for something developers should have addressed or built better.

“I hope the public realizes that we do that for a reason – to protect public tax dollars,” he said. “We do not want to take on someone else’s problem. As I put it, I don’t want to buy a new car with a dent.”

In other business, the city approved the first reading of several amendments to its multi-year Kentucky Capital Improvement Program budget in light of adjustments in capital projects and purchases.

Among the 13 amendments is a transfer of $50,000 to maintain the parking lot behind the Kummer Little Recreation Center that was scheduled for FY23 to a later fiscal year so that the money can be used for the CrossWinds irrigation project that came in over budget.

The parking lot is still usable in the meantime, Schaller-Ward said.

“Our budgets unfortunately this year, because of inflation, just have not been able to keep up,” she said. “So we’re just trying to redirect and reprioritize.”