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The Berryville City Council, at its regular meeting Tuesday, Dec. 5, authorized Mayor Tim McKinney to enter an agreement to sell approximately 77 acres inside the city’s business park for $880,000.
McKinney declined to identify the buyer of the property, citing a non-disclosure agreement. He said some minor details were being ironed out in a purchase agreement that he expected to have finalized the following morning.
During his remarks in presenting the proposal to the council, McKinney said the buyer was “a new business coming to Berryville.”
The council voted 3-0, with Ashley Sharp absent, to authorize McKinney to move forward with the sale.
In other business at the Dec. 5 meeting, council members approved the first reading of an ordinance to annex approximately 400 acres of property into the city and were presented with the city’s proposed 2024 budget to review before the year’s final regular meeting on Dec. 19.
The proposed budget includes a 3 percent wage increase and a 1 percent increase in retirement contributions for all employees other than police officers and district court personnel. Those positions would receive a 4 percent wage increase if the budget is approved.
The council also heard a monthly activity report from police chief Robert Bartos.
Bartos told the council that his officers issued 95 citations in November 2023, down from 126 a year earlier. There were 72 offenses for the month, an increase of one from November 2022, and 17 accidents, up from 15 in 2022.
The department’s clearance rate for November was 92 percent, Bartos said, and it took in $1,005 in bonds and fines.
Jamie Hussey, recently hired as director of the city’s parks and recreation department, gave the council an update on developments there, including the Angel Tree at the Berryville Community Center.
“I think we had 160 angels and I think we’ve got two or three left,” Hussey said, adding that Carroll Electric donated almost $3,500 earlier that day that had been collected from employees. Some of that money will be used as seed money to help expand the Angel Tree program next year, Hussey said.
Other developments Hussey mentioned were the installation of additional weightlifting equipment and big-screen TVs in the community center, an increase in center membership and the purchase of a new GoPro video camera that will be used to create videos for a YouTube channel promoting the city’s parks.
Members of the Berryville Middle School Student Council attended the meeting and spoke briefly about a project they are working on to donate decorated Christmas trees to local families in need.
The council’s next regular meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 19, at City Hall.
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