THE CURRENT IRON River City Hall at 106 W. Genesee St. The Iron River City Council has backed trying to purchase 801 W. Adams St. as a new City Hall to avoid costly repairs at the current site. (Marguerite Lanthier/Daily News photo)

IRON RIVER — The Iron River City Council decided Wednesday to pursue relocating City Hall to 801 W. Adams St. rather than make repairs on the building at 106 W. Genesee St.

The vote to make an offer on the Adams Street property came at a special meeting and after a public hearing that did have some opposition to the move.

City officials first began considering the Adams Street property last summer when the former Iron County Reporter newspaper building came on the market. The property originally was listed for $300,000, but the current asking price is $199,000.

In addition to the purchase price, the council estimated the city would need to spend another $400,000 to renovate the Adams Street building for use as a City Hall.

City Manager Rachel Andreski said at a public hearing in July 2023 that little had been done to maintain the current City Hall and the building’s two boilers and two rooftop air conditioners all needed to be replaced. About $1 million would be needed to get the Genesee Street building in shape, she said.

In addition, a comparison of utility costs between the City Hall and the Reporter building showed a potential savings of $30,000 a year, Andreski said, adding the current building was only one-third occupied.

But several at Wednesday’s meeting were concerned about another empty building in Iron River and that the city would end up having to maintain two sites.

Resident Mark Polley said had the city previously kept up on City Hall repairs, they would not be in this situation.

“This building belongs to the people. The building should have been declared a historical site. By doing that, money would have been available for repairs,” Polley said. “We need to take care of what we have. This building should have been a budget line item every year so when you have a major problem it could have been taken care of.”

After the public hearing, the council convened a special meeting and went into closed session to discuss the possible move.

Back in open session, council member Benjamin Garcia made the motion to pursue the Adams Street site at a starting offer of $160,000, with council member Anthony Clements supporting. The motion passed 3-2, with council members Dennis Powell and Ronjo Leonoff opposed.

Powell later said that he voted no because he believes renovations needed on the former newspaper building will cost much more than the $400,000 estimate.

“The roof (on the Reporter building) is bad and we might have to redo the whole roof — that is over $100,000 right there,” Powell said. “I would rather put the money into what we already have.”