A proposal before the Parkersburg Urban Renewal Authority would have the city purchase the Economy Inn, shown Sunday, on Seventh Street for the fair market value of $490,000. The hotel, in which multiple rooms have been closed due to code violations, would be demolished and the site considered for a new fire station. (Photo by Evan Bevins)

PARKERSBURG — The site of a dilapidated hotel on Seventh Street could be the location of the city’s next new fire station.

Parkersburg City Council will meet as the Urban Renewal Authority Tuesday to consider the proposed purchase of the Econo Lodge at 1954 Seventh St. for fair market value of $490,000. If approved, the building could be razed, at an estimated cost of $170,000, and a replacement for fire station 3 built there, Mayor Tom Joyce said.

The URA session will follow a regular council meeting at 7:30 p.m., with a severance package for Memorial Bridge toll workers on the agenda.

Station 3 at 13th and Liberty streets was one of three firehouses built in the early 1930s and the only one that hasn’t been replaced in recent years. While the others were demolished and rebuilt on adjacent sites, city officials have discussed changing this station’s location to improve response times and the city’s insurance rating.

“(Fire) Chief (Jason) Matthews has been adamant for months that relocation of station 3 to the east would improve response times for roughly 250 structures,” Joyce said. “That said, the Economy Inn is a serious slum and blight issue with extensive damage and limited utilities and only about 16 rooms currently capable of safe occupancy.

A proposal before the Parkersburg Urban Renewal Authority would have the city purchase the Economy Inn, shown Sunday, on Seventh Street for the fair market value of $490,000. The hotel, in which multiple rooms have been closed due to code violations, would be demolished and the site considered for a new fire station. (Photo by Evan Bevins)

“So whether or not council elects to build station 3 at that location, I would hope they would seriously consider the purchase for the purpose to cure slum and blight,” he said.

The agenda includes 35 pages of records of police and emergency calls to the hotel, dating back to 2013, for medical calls, including overdoses, disorderly subjects, thefts and domestic incidents.

Councilwoman Sharon Kuhl, chairwoman of the URA, said removing the structure will be a benefit to the city and the site could be used for more than a fire station. City officials have also discussed building a new central garage.

“It’s a large parcel, so it appears that it could be used for the central garage also, but it is too early to determine with absolute certainty,” Joyce said.

Applicant Ajay Babariya, president of the Kishanpooja Corporation that owns the hotel, could not immediately be reached for comment Sunday afternoon.

Also on the agenda is a proposed donation of dilapidated structures at 1517 and 1714 19th St. and an offer to purchase a vacant lot at 1322 Oak St. from the URA for $500.

The regular council agenda includes the first reading of an ordinance for severance pay for 27 part-time toll collectors who had expected to still be working at the Memorial Bridge for the next year or so.

The city transferred ownership of the toll bridge earlier this year to Parkersburg Bridge Partners, which began a $50 million rehabilitation project intended to extend the structure’s useful life by at least 50 years. Traffic was initially maintained in both directions using a single lane, but the company decided to close the bridge for the remainder of the project in August, saying motorists created a safety risk by running the light and ignoring directions.

That moved up the target completion date from November 2023 to Aug. 31, but it also meant the toll collectors’ services were no longer required. They continued to be paid pending the termination of the management agreement between the city and the new owners that was approved in October.

The severance proposal, if approved at Tuesday’s meeting and the next, would pay them each two weeks of their average weekly gross earnings for each year they worked for the city. That’s expected to cost approximately $112,000, which will be paid out of the city’s budget for the bridge, Finance Director Eric Jiles said.

“We budgeted the operation of the bridge for the entire year, and that has ceased but the budget is still there,” he said.

Another ordinance would require the city to get bids for contracts and services estimated to cost $25,000 or more. The threshold is $15,000 now.

Even if the formal bid process isn’t triggered, the city would still have to get three quotes for a service or item under $25,000, Jiles said.

“We are finding that just about everything we put out to bid is well above even $25,000,” he said, “so this would allow us to keep more things moving as the bidding process takes about three weeks on average.”

Another ordinance would increase the annual limit for performance bonds from $10,000 to $20,000 for utilities digging into city streets and sidewalks. They must post a bond of $2,000 per opening or an annual maximum that the ordinance would double.

Also on the agenda are ordinances expressing support for public access to a parcel on the southerly side of Bosley Industrial Drive if it is annexed into the city and amending city code to reflect changes in the organizational structure of the Fire Department.

Evan Bevins can be reached at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com.