OGDEN — Talk of moving Weber County government offices from the Weber Center in downtown Ogden has taken another step forward.

Weber County commissioners on Tuesday approved an agreement with EDA Architects of Salt Lake City, authorizing the firm to pin down some of the details related to a potential move. Working at no cost to the county, EDA will evaluate county government space and infrastructure needs, analyze new potential sites proposed by commissioners and create rough price estimates of moving to new digs.

“This is information we need. It’s at the right cost, which is virtually zero for the county,” said County Commissioner Gage Froerer.

News that commissioners were mulling a move from the Weber Center at 2380 Washington Blvd. emerged last summer as efforts to demolish the decrepit three-level parking structure abutting the building’s east side off 24th Street moved forward. Costs of replacing the old parking structure with a full-scale garage, which will ultimately be required, are significant, so commissioners instead latched onto the idea of moving out, selling the Weber Center and letting the new buyer contend with the garage issue.

Weber County acquired the Weber Center in the mid-1990s, moving county offices that had been scattered around the downtown area to the structure at the northeast corner of 24th Street and Washington Boulevard. The building houses the commissioners’ offices, planning offices and the offices of the county clerk-auditor and assessor, among many others.

Per the deal with EDA, the firm will take four to six weeks to handle the preliminary site evaluation and feasibility study. Scott Mendoza, part of the Weber County Community Development Department, said company reps will meet with county officials to assess needs before evaluating specific sites in the city of Ogden.

Once the EDA study is complete, it would be up to commissioners to decide what comes next, though they’ve expressed strong interest in moving. The county received special permission from the City of Ogden to replace the three-level garage that sat against the Weber Center with a smaller surface lot containing just 95 spaces, at least initially. Work started last year and the new, temporary lot should be done by mid- to late-April, Mendoza estimates.

But after five years, city rules kick in requiring a larger garage with as many as 296 spots, commensurate with the size of the Weber Center, Mendoza said. That, officials have said, could cost $15 million or more, a painful proposition for commissioners.

EDA proposed handling the study at no cost in part because it sees marketing potential by associating with the county, according to the proposal agreement. The firm helped with the overhaul of the Weber County Library System’s Main Library in Ogden, placed on the U.S. National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places after the upgrade.

But it sees the project as more than just a new building. A new county government structure will have “a lasting impact on the culture and performance of county government for decades to run,” the EDA proposal reads. EDA recommends establishing a “vision” and “guiding principles” early on in the process.