By John Howell Sr.

An architect who consults with the city about downtown renovations has become the advocate for restoring the old service station building at the Square’s Eureka Street entrance.

“You know my passion for your gas station,” said Maggie Bjorgum of Belinda Stewart, Architects at Tuesday’s meeting of Batesville’s mayor and aldermen.

“You haven’t brought a picture of it?” Mayor Jerry Autrey asked, laughing as he anticipated what would come next.

“I drew a quick sketch to show you how cute it could be,” Bjorgum said, with the removal of islands where gasoline pumps formerly stood, allowing the Eureka Street Square entrance to be widened. The architect presented city officials with a proposal for preliminary design work to determine the cost of the renovation.

City officials have been negotiating to buy the old service station property and demolish the structure entirely. The structure has stood as it now appears since the early 1930s, Bjorgum said. The building presently serves as the Panola Food Pantry’s distribution center.

“Please save it,” Bjorgum said.

Eupora-based Belinda Stewart, Architects is advising the city on several projects, including the renovation of the municipal courtroom and remodeling the adjacent structure into offices for the municipal code office.

Aldermen voted 3 to 0 to accept the next lowest bid for the remodeling of the structure at 101 College Street to serve as the code office.

The base bid of C and M Builders of Southaven was $230,000, some $4,600 more than the low bid from J. D. Beer of Memphis.

However, Assistant City Attorney Colmon Mitchell said that the low bid was not accompanied by documents required, following a state statute change last summer, from out-of-state bidders.

Beer told the city officials that he had not previously had problems with bids in Mississippi municipalities.

“As a municipality, we can’t go against the advice of our counsel,” the mayor told Beer.

City officials have been pushing the start of construction for the code office to comply with a deadline for use of the $100,000 obtained for the project through a Small Municipalities Grant.