T-L Photo/JOSIE BURKHART Pastor David Demarest from Kirkwood Presbyterian Church addresses Bridgeport council Tuesday evening about possibly acquiring the church property and building after its last service in 2025, inviting council to hold its next meeting at the church to check it out.

BRIDGEPORT — Bridgeport Village Council will consider purchasing the Kirkwood Presbyterian Church property and building and will hold its next meeting at the site to scope it out.

At an earlier meeting, Pastor David Demarest discussed a letter he had sent to council wanting to start a conversation about whether the village would be interested in acquiring the church location at a favorable price. The congregation will have its last service on Good Friday, April 18, 2025.

At the time, Solicitor Michael Shaheen had said that while the village remains under the auspices of the Economic Review Committee, it would technically be able to enter into a contract to acquire something new.

Demarest attended the meeting Tuesday and wanted to continue the conversation. He said favorable terms would be negotiated when the church closes next year.

“I think the sentiment here was it’s very logical for the village to acquire it,” Shaheen said. “There’s a lot of potential good that could come from it, and we can pretty much see the light at the end of the tunnel from a few different pathways that we could afford to do.”

Demarest invited council to have its next meeting at the building to check it out. Council scheduled its next session for 6 p.m. Nov. 12 at Kirkwood Presbyterian Church.

Meanwhile, Eric Caldwell from Jochum Refuse of Wheeling also had attended an earlier meeting, but due to lack of quorum council could not act on his issue. He had addressed council wanting to extend the contract he has with the village. His company took over the community’s refuse needs, purchased its truck and purchased its containers in October 2021. Council unanimously approved the contract extension Tuesday.