COOS BAY — The city of Coos Bay is keeping its visitor center manager after all.

The City Council agreed to hire the Bay Area Chamber of Commerce to run the downtown building for $63,077. The new agreement will cost $10,000 more than the previous one the chamber opted out of in July.

Acting City Manager Rodger Craddock also offered the council the option of having the city run the center, estimating the cost at $65,147.

Councilors Stephanie Kramer and Mark Daily supported the idea of having the city run the center. Kramer noted that a city employee would be focused on Coos Bay’s business all the time, whereas the chamber’s manager occasionally handles chamber business. Daily suggested the public’s money would be more easily accounted for if the center were run by the city.

“You have transparency with the public option and I would like to see that,” he said.

But the majority of the council members saw value with continuing a relationship with the chamber. Councilor Jon Eck suggested the city’s cost could grow substantially if it runs the center itself because of automatic wage increases bargained for all employees. Mayor Jeff McKeown also argued the city would benefit from maintaining good relations with the chamber.

The executive director of the chamber, Timm Slater, as well as a couple board members attended the meeting, but didn’t speak.

Chamber officials previously said they opted out of the contract because of confusion about what the city wanted, not because they didn’t want to work with the city.

There was some question Tuesday as to whether it would be appropriate for the city to bear the entire burden of paying for utilities in the new facility being built.

Eck said the issue could be dealt with in a future contract once the sides have a better sense of what those costs would be.

The final vote was 4-2 in favor of the chamber, with Joanie Johnson abstaining because she is a chamber board officer.

Those voting for the chamber running the center included McKeown, Eck, Gene Melton and John Pundt.

“They’ve shown they can do the job and I’m comfortable with that,” Pundt said.