Facing a July 31 deadline, the Cape Girardeau County Commission is near a decision on purchasing the old federal building on Broadway in Cape Girardeau for satellite operations currently housed a block away in the historic Common Pleas Courthouse and Courthouse Annex.

The old federal building is considered surplus property now that the new Rush H. Limbaugh Sr. U.S. Courthouse has opened on Independence Street. An earlier bid to turn the facility into a homeless shelter was turned down by the General Services Administration. That made the building available to another governmental agency. If no such agreement is made before the deadline next week, the building will be auctioned off by the GSA.

The county and the GSA have been negotiating for several weeks. It has been widely reported that the county is actively looking into purchasing the building. The commissioners have had meetings with county officials who have offices in Cape Girardeau, and the commissioners have taken into consideration the cost of renovating the building to serve the county's needs.

All during this process county taxpayers have been able to have input by calling commissioners or attending their meetings. Today the commission will take citizen input at 11:15 a.m. during its meeting in the county administrative building in Jackson.