The City of Crossville had the winning bid on an online auction today for 24 acres of land close to the intersection of Genesis Road and Iris Lane. It will be used for a planned indoor recreational facility.

The final cost with the bid and fees was $594,000. City officials will use their “rainy day fund” to initially pay for the property. They will also look at selling nearly 5 acres of land owned near the health Department to help offset the cost.

Prior to the special called meeting of the council starting at 11:30 a.m. central, 20 bids on the land were already in with the top standing at $477,500. The deadline was noon central. Should a new high bid be established, 3 additional minutes were placed to give others time to beat it.

The price went up a couple of times and Crossville Mayor James Mayberry made a motion to take the limit to bid from the city to $1 million. The motion failed after Councilman Harrison and Councilman Gernt said they did not feel comfortable with that limit.

A second motion by Gernt to raise the city limit of a bid for the property without fees to $550,000 was made and passed.

While waiting to see if the city won, Councilman Shanks said he would love to have the proposed recreational facility on Main Street across from city hall if they were not successful with the bid.

With the final 3 minute extension running out, the city made a bid of $540,000 and was not contested. With fees added, the final cost became $594,000. The council then passed a budget amendment approving spending the money on the property.