The Knoxville City Council has delayed the hiring of two consultants to help with the disposition of the old Veterans Administration property.

Council members chose to table discussion of the hiring of 571 Polson Developments and Snyder and Associates; both are being sought by the city to respectively draw up a plan and conduct a site survey for the now-abandoned VA site.

Mayor Brian Hatch says he’s been in discussions with representatives of both companies over the past week; he says while they are getting closer to coming up with a firm plan for proceeding, they’re not quite ready.

The property is now in the hands of the federal Government Services Administration, and some or all of the land is being sought after by various entities — the city, the school district, the Marion County Fair Board, and the Iowa Department of Transportation.

The only building on the campus still in use shut down last year, and the entire site has been largely unused since 2009. The buildings are deteriorating, but demolition has to be done carefully since the location is designated as a national historic site.

The matter could come up for further discussion at the next meeting on November 5th.