The Alamogordo City Commission has placed an item on its agenda that directs city staff not to list the Plaza Pub for sale.

According to the agenda, the instruction, which will require a vote to pass, would instruct Alamogordo city staff to not list the Plaza Pub for sale and that any negotiations related to the sale of the property not occur before May 2013.

The commission had previously authorized city staff to list the building for sale.

The agenda item comes two weeks after the Alamogordo City Commission authorized the Tularosa Basin Historical Society to seek grant funding that will be used to convert the now-vacant Plaza Pub into a museum.

The measure, which passed at the commission’s last regular meeting, allows the historical society one year to seek funding. Commissioners Al Hernandez and Robert Rentschler voted against the measure, along with Mayor Susie Galea. Rentschler said he was concerned about the amount of taxpayer money going into the building and voted against the measure. He said he was afraid that if the city used the allocated money, the project would be left unfinished and require even more funds.

Elizabeth Padilla, president of the historical society, said that since the city owns the building, her organization would need authorization to seek grant money, some of which would go toward a study on the building itself. She said the grant process could take anywhere between three months to one year to complete.

Commissioner Josh Rardin

said the city has $600,000 set aside to buy and renovate a building for the historical society. That money came from refinancing a revenue bond and will not necessarily be used on the Plaza Pub, with $350,000 allocated for the purchase of a building and the remaining $250,000 set aside for renovations.

Rardin said the commission could conceivably use the entire $600,000 to renovate the Plaza Pub, which the city owns.

The city commission had previously voted in executive session to authorize city staff to list the building for sale. It bought the building, located on the northeast corner of White Sands Boulevard and 10th Street, with a state grant. Padilla said the society had control of the building but couldn’t obtain the funding necessary for all the renovations needed and turned the building back over to the city.

Contact John Bear at jbear@alamogordonews.com.