The former Entergy building in Berryville apparently will soon be government property, but it won’t belong to Carroll County. Instead, the city of Berryville intends to purchase the building to house its police department.

After Carroll County Judge Ronda Griffin formally declined an option to buy the 5,400-square-foot building for $429,500, the city signed a lease-purchase agreement with the building’s owner, Russ Meeks.

The Berryville City Council, at a special called meeting Monday, Oct. 10, to appropriated $10,000 in earnest money for the purchase.

“We’ve got it,” Berryville Mayor Tim McKinney said Friday, Oct. 7. “We’ve already signed the agreement. … For that price, we just couldn’t pass it up.”

McKinney said the city will move its police department into the building, located at 613 S. Main. The city’s water department, currently housed inside city hall, would then be moved to the current police department building. McKinney said a drive-thru window will be added to allow residents to pay their water bills without leaving their vehicles.

Griffin declined the county’s option to buy the building after a vote by the county’s quorum court to appropriate earnest money toward the purchase failed to gain the necessary votes at an Oct. 3 special meeting.

With three members absent from the Oct. 3 meeting where Griffin asked justices of the peace to appropriate $10,000 in earnest money to continue looking into the possible purchase, a 5-3 vote left some uncertainty among county officials who were unsure whether approval required a majority of the JPs present or a majority of the entire 11-member quorum court.

Justices Duane Coatney, Kellie Matt and Don McNeely voted against the appropriation. Justices Jack Deaton, Roger Hall and Larry Swofford were absent.

Deputy prosecuting attorney Steve Simmons said he would need to research the issue before advising the quorum court whether the five votes in favor of the appropriation were enough for approval.

In a press release issued Wednesday, Oct. 5, Griffin said state law requires that a majority of the full quorum court approve legislation.

“Therefore, the ordinance did not pass,” Griffin said in her press release, adding that Meeks had been informed of her decision.

Griffin signed a non-binding letter of intent Sept. 9 to purchase the building. The letter gave Griffin 30 days to finalize the purchase, and she told the quorum court at its regular meeting on Sept. 19 that she was still considering whether to do so.

Before the Oct. 3 special meeting, Griffin said the majority of the 11 justices of the peace had indicated they believed the building would be a good investment for the county. She said the building could be used to store election equipment, hold meetings and potentially to house the county’s emergency management and veterans services offices.

Carroll County Clerk Connie Doss told the quorum court at its Sept. 19 regular meeting that the county could indirectly use federal pandemic relief funds to pay for the building. That money would be used to reimburse the county for employee salaries, thus freeing up money in the county’s general fund to purchase the building.

Paying the earnest money would have allowed the county to have the building inspected and Simmons said that the county would have had 30 days to do so and have the earnest money returned if county officials were dissatisfied with the results of the inspection.