Elkins building discussions may help shape future of city
Posted on Thursday, July 24, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/News/67437/
ELKINS — Out with the old and in with the new. That’s what the Elkins City Council decided at a special meeting Wednesday.
The council voted to sell the old Grahm’s Antique building on the corner of Arkansas 16 and 1 st Avenue and to renegotiate the price and purchase the Carfagnio building on Stokenbur y Road near Arkansas 16.
After a long discussion, and a trip out to the Carfagnio building, which the council hopes to use as a city hall that houses all city departments, the aldermen voted 5-1 to pay $ 295, 000 over 40 years to the buildings owner, who said he would finance the city at a 5 percent interest rate. Alderman Bruce Ledford was the lone no vote.
The renegotiation was needed after the city didn’t receive a $ 150, 000 rural development grant, which was one of the contingencies the council included in the original $ 355, 000 offer in February. The council also opted not to purchase the empty 1-acre lot adjacent to the building, which saved the city another $ 60, 000.
Mayor Jack Ladyman said the new building would give the city more than 10, 000 square feet on two floors to house the police, water and city administrative departments as well as the district court. He also said the city got a steal on the purchase considering the appraised value was at about $ 380, 000 the last time the owner checked in 1998, and it had previously been on the market for more than $ 450, 000.
Ledford defended his stance against the purchase stating that the building needed a lot of remodeling to make it workable for the city.
“ I would be more in favor of building a new building the way we need it and to our specifications, ” he said. “ Don’t get me wrong, I think we really need a place, but I don’t think (the Carfagnio building is ) the right place. ”
Ladyman said that the mortgage would be about $ 2, 400 a month, and it, along with utility costs, would be paid via the city’s general fund. He added that once the city sold all three of its buildings in the downtown area, they could use the money to help pay off the new building.
He added that after having professionals take a look at the Carfagnio building, it would take about $ 7, 900 extra to make adjustments that would make the building move-in ready for all departments.
“ Even if we sold all the current city buildings at half their appraised value that still makes us $ 165, 000, ” Alderman Bobby McGarrah added.
The decision came on the tail end of another decision to sell the old Grahm’s Antique building to James R. Ball for $ 35, 000, less than half its appraised value of $ 75, 000. Ladyman had to break a 3-3 tie to sell the building with Aldermen Jeremy Stevens, Bob Cox and Ledford voting against the idea and Aldermen Bonnie Wilcox, Bill Epperson and McGarrah voting for the sale.
Ball, president of Carter Ball Properties Inc., plans to move a relative’s business, a secondhand item and tanning salon called Jazzies, into the building. Ladyman said he was anxious to sell the building because Ball expressed an interest in upgrading and restoring the building, one of the oldest in Elkins. Ladyman said that the building is in very poor physical shape with a roof that’s ready to collapse and an inside that needs major remodeling and cleaning. He said the city of Elkins got the building for free in hopes that it might restore it to its former glory, but never got the funds. The building has served as a gas station, an antique store and a feed store in the past.
The sale is hinged on an environmental study to ensure that there are no underground gas tanks that could require expensive removal. Both the city and Ball will chip in $ 1, 000 to have the state conduct a surface-level study to see if there is a possibility that old gas tanks are underground. If the study comes back positive, both parties agreed that the deal to purchase would be null and void.
Stevens led the charge against selling the old building for much less that its appraised value. He said that the council’s job was to make the best possible decisions when it comes to managing the city’s money and property and that the building was the property of the residents of Elkins.
“ You wait until the market comes back and it’s worth more, ” he said. “ If we’re selling it in a down market we’re not doing our best with the people’s property. ”
Ladyman and Wilcox defended the sale. Wilcox stated that the building is an eyesore as it stands and that if someone has the funds to restore it and use it, than the whole city would benefit. Ladyman added that there’s no money in the city budget to restore the building and that at the moment it’s just a rotting storage facility for city junk.
McGarrah said the building was decaying everyday and that if the council held onto it until the market went up again the building would probably collapse into itself.
Ball stated that even at the $ 35, 000 price, he still would have to invest another $ 54, 000 to get the building into an inhabitable condition.