Clanton’s City Council on Monday gave Mayor Billy Joe Driver permission to proceed with an effort to purchase the shopping center that houses Fred’s.

The city is only interested in the property, located off Third Avenue North, and would keep the leases held by current tenants of the shopping center.

Driver told the council that the property owner approached him about the possibility of a purchase.

The mayor said the parcel is made more attractive because the city owns property all around it.

Driver said possible uses for the shopping center would be a new municipal courtroom and a meeting place for Senior Connection.

The council unanimously approved Driver seeking the purchase.

In other business, the council:

•Gave Driver permission to purchase a half-acre of land for $5,000 near the city’s industrial park. The purchase is necessary to obtain a grant to install an access road for Boatright. The planned access road would cut across the property in question.

•Approved a change order for the construction of Clanton Fire Station No. 3. The project will wind up with a price tag of $1,578 less than planned.

•Declared several Clanton Police Department firearms as surplus and allowed Chief Brian Stilwell to trade the surplus guns for new ones.