Council introduces ordinance to authorize purchase of 149 North Potomac Street for $2.5 million

The Mayor and City Council of Hagerstown introduced an ordinance Sept. 16 authorizing the purchase and sale of the property at 149 North Potomac Street from 149 North Potomac LLC for a purchase price of $2,500,000 to be paid from general fund reserves. A council member moved to introduce the ordinance, a second was made, and the motion passed at the special session.

Why it matters: The purchase would commit $2.5 million of city general fund reserves to acquire a downtown property. The motion at the special session was purely for introduction of the ordinance; required subsequent readings and any final appropriation would follow the city’s normal legislative steps.

At the Sept. 16 special session a council member read the introduction motion: “I hereby move to introduce an ordinance authorizing the purchase and sale of property located at 149 North Potomac Street, Hagerstown, Maryland from 149 North Potomac LLC. The purchase price will be $2,500,000 is to be paid for the general fund reserves.” The motion received a second and was reported as passing by voice vote.

What’s next: Introduction places the ordinance on the city’s legislative schedule for further consideration and a subsequent vote at a later regular session; the council did not adopt a final purchase at the special session. The transcript indicates the formal adoption steps remain to occur after introduction.

Votes and procedure: The council recorded the motion, a second, and an affirmative voice vote to introduce the ordinance. No formal roll-call tally or named votes were recorded in the transcript of the special session.

Context and limits: The motion introduced a purchase-and-sale ordinance; details such as ordinance number, closing conditions, title review, due diligence results, and closing timeline were not specified in the introduction and were not included in the transcript excerpt.