-Messenger photo by Bill Shea
This former gasoline station at 204 S. Eighth St. was the site of Jim’s Service Inc. from the early 1950s until December 2015. It has been vacant since then. The Fort Dodge City Council bought the property Monday from Daniel and Danielle Altman for $35,000. The building will eventually be demolished to make room for a facility for the new municipal broadband utility.

A former gasoline station on the southside of downtown Fort Dodge will eventually be knocked down to make room for the base of a new municipal broadband utility.

The City Council voted Monday night to buy the station at 204 S. Eighth St. from Daniel and Danielle Altman for $35,000.

The station at the corner of Second Avenue South and Eighth Street housed Jim’s Service Inc. from the early 1950s until December 2015. It closed when its last owners, Randy Kay and Randy Daniel, retired. The building has been vacant since then.

The city is developing a broadband utility to provide high speed internet service. Construction of the system is expected to begin next summer.

In other business, the council bought 40 new body cameras and related equipment for the Police Department from Keltek Inc., of Baxter, for $77,988.83. These cameras will replace the older ones now in use.