MARSHALL — The future of a long-vacant hotel building on Main Street isn’t settled yet, but work to remove debris and hazardous materials from the site is planned. Members of the Marshall City Council approved a roughly $72,000 bid for the cleanup last week.

“This is something we would have to do whether or not we demolished it, or if we sold the building,” said Marshall Public Works Director Glenn Olson.

In the meantime, the city of Marshall is continuing to work with a private developer to see if the building can be renovated into business space, City Administrator Sharon Hanson said.

The former hotel building, located on Main Street next door to the Marshall municipal building, has been vacant for many years. Back in 2009, an inspection by a state fire marshal found the building to be a fire hazard, and unsafe for firefighters to enter. The city now owns the hotel property, after going through the eminent domain process in 2015 and 2016.

At last week’s city council meeting, Olson said the city received one bid to remove and dispose of hazardous materials and debris from the hotel building. The bid, of $72,468, was from Advanced Health, Safety and Security, of Balaton.

“I was comfortable” with the bid, Olson said. “He had a real good, defined break-out of each floor, and the removals of the materials.” The city has also worked with Advanced Health, Safety and Security in the past, Olson said.

When cleanup work starts, the removal container for debris from the vacant hotel could be located either in back of the building or in front, Olson said. The main factor to consider would be how to confine any hazardous materials like fibers that could be carried on the wind, he said.

Council members voted to award the bid for building cleanup.

The city is also currently working with a private developer on the possibility of renovating the hotel building. The developer has expressed an interest in creating business space on the first floor, and possibly renovating the second and third floors as well, Hanson said.

“We have confirmed we are able to sell the building,” Hanson said. Because the city acquired the hotel through eminent domain, there had been some questions as to whether the building needed to be put to public use. Hanson said the former owner of the hotel building, Joseph Bot, had given permission for the interested developer to buy the property.

“Without the help of Joe Bot, we wouldn’t have been able to do it,” Hanson said.

“We definitely want to see redevelopment of the property,” Hanson said. But regardless of what happens to the building, hazardous materials inside will have to be removed first.