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WHITMIRE —The old medical building on Main Street in Whitmire has moved forward with a bidder and will begin work in the next couple of weeks.

The town council and mayor met Thursday evening at the community center where five bidders presented their bids for construction work on the building.

Town council unanimously went with the lowest bidder who is Jesse Baker with W.E. Baker and Sons. Baker bid on the one cent sales tax project building for $312,000. There was a difference of $33,500 between Baker and the next highest bidder.

The other bidders included were Cannon Associates at $345,500, Casey Construction at $390,000, Marvin Construction as $420,000 and Melloul Piamey Construction at $349,000.

Mayor Tim Carroll said that they must wait 10 days after the awarding of the bid and then they will start within two weeks, which puts their start time at the beginning of December.

The building will be fixed up as a town annex building to host council chambers and a courtroom.

There will be other space available as well.

According to Michael Thomas, mayor pro tem, there is office space available that organizations and groups may use for meetings.

Thomas continued by explaining that this is the first phase which includes the downstairs work. The second phase will include work on the upstairs area.

The project should take about six months to complete, Thomas says.

While no one objected to the bid, council member Cassie Fowler did ask questions about the lay out and design of the building. She wanted to know if the building could be used for more than just council meetings and court procedures.