Photo by Deb Gau Members of a local committee, including Marshall city council members John DeCramer and David Sturrock, and interim city administrator Sheila Dubs, continued the discussion Tuesday on whether to renovate the Marshall Municipal Building.

MARSHALL — Members of a committee discussing what to do about Marshall’s aging city hall building said this week they thought the building should be renovated. The next step forward, the group said, would be to invite firms to propose plans on how to do the renovating.

The committee, made up of Marshall city employees, city council members and Marshall residents, started meeting this summer to re-examine options for the Marshall Municipal Building on Main Street. The building has problems with leaks, heating and air conditioning, and concrete damage from a former garage area. Back in 2014, a similar building task force had recommended the building be renovated.

Although the new committee researched options including moving the city offices to another location, city council member John DeCramer said Tuesday that the group seemed to have “a very strong consensus” to remodel the existing city hall building. Group members said the city had a lot invested in the location — if the municipal offices moved away from Main Street, the city would probably still have to tear down or renovate city hall and the former Marshall Hotel next door before the properties could be sold.

Committee member Art Olson said members of the public thought the group needed to take action soon. Olson said he had received feedback from Marshall residents. While they didn’t have specific recommendations as to what to do with city hall, he said, “I have heard, ‘Let’s get it going.'”

Marshall Public Works Director Glenn Olson said it will be important for the city to look at renovating both properties. The city acquired the hotel property through eminent domain.

“The use was to eliminate a blighted area,” said Marshall City Attorney Dennis Simpson. “Now that we own it, we have to do something with it.”

The property would need to be used for a public purpose, Simpson said.

The next step forward, committee members said, would be to get proposals on how to update the municipal building and hotel property. There were several options available to the group, they said. In previous discussions of city hall, the city had worked with the architecture firm TSP, and with Energy Service Group by Honeywell.

After further discussion, committee members’ consensus was to invite up to three firms to give their proposals for the municipal building and hotel property, and to allow around three weeks for a response. The committee will meet again in early November to go over the results.