An item not on the initial agenda took center stage tonight at the City of Portsmouth council meeting. After emerging from a lengthy executive session, an emergency ordinance was placed on the agenda authorizing the mayor to negotiate a real estate purchase agreement with The Marting Brothers Company for purchase of their property. As stated in the ordinance, "the forthcoming closure of Marting's has necessitated emergency action."

A motion to amend the ordinance by Councilman Baughman was approved by unanimous vote. The section of the original ordinance was amended to read "The Richard D. Marting Foundation, Inc. shall agree in writing to make grants to the City, usable for renovations to the Property and/or general economic betterment activities, in amounts not less than $200,000 (amended from $150,000), to be paid in installments during the 30 month (amended from 2 year) period next following closing of the acquisition of the Property." The amended ordinance was passed as an emergency by unanimous agreement.

Comments after the legislative session ended revealed more of the story. City Council President Jim Kalb commented that tonight we have taken the first step to have new city offices. Despite taking a "big chunk of the capital improvement budget for 15-20 years", comments centered around it being a signal to business looking to relocate of the committment to the downtown area by city government.

In his report, the city solicitor thanked council for allowing him to be a part of an ordinance that he called "historic".