McKinney: City ‘going to proceed’ with purchase of Entergy building

Berryville Mayor Tim McKinney and members of the city council toured the former Entergy building located at 613 S. Main on Tuesday, Oct. 11, one day after the council voted to appropriate $10,000 in earnest money toward purchasing the property.

Tim McKinney

McKinney had signed a non-binding letter of intent to buy the 5,832-squarefoot building and the 2.137acre lot it sits on for $ 429,500 the previous week after Carroll County Judge Ronda Griffin formally declined the county’s option to purchase the property.

The earnest money will allow the city to have the building inspected before the purchase is closed.

McKinney said council members seemed satisfied with what they saw inside the building.

“They all liked it and pretty much seemed to be in agreement to move on with it,” McKinney said. “So we’re going to proceed.”

McKinney, who retired from Entergy, worked out of the building for many years.

“I told them, if these walls could talk, they could probably tell some stories,” McKinney said. “But I’m kind of glad they can’t.”

McKinney said he hopes the city can close on the purchase within the next 60 days. He initially had said the plan was for the city to move the police department to the former Entergy building, with the water department moving into the current police department building. He said last week that is still the likely scenario, although another option would be to move the water department into the Entergy building.