The Intergovernmental Committee met yesterday at Henderson City Hall.
That committee is comprised of three members from the Henderson City Council and three members from the Vance County Board of Commissioners. Henderson Mayor Pete O’Geary moderated the discussion.
Both County Manager Jerry Ayscue and City Manager Ray Griffin participated in the meeting as well.
Henderson was represented by council members Sara Coffey, Lonnie Davis, and Brenda Peace. Vance County members included Terry Garrison, Tim Pegram, and Eddie Wright.
Wright sat on the committee in the place of the currently-hospitalized member Scott Hughes.
Ayscue told members that the county is interested in determining what it would take to stabilize the decaying Henderson-Vance Armory. According to the county manager, a team of county building inspectors, Assistant City Manager Frank Frazier, and Michael Killian of Killian Construction assessed the building.
The building was assessed mainly for a new roof, decking, joists, and insulation.
Costs were estimated at $140,000 for the new roof (13,400 sq. ft.), $25,000 for structural repairs, $14,200 for structural engineering, along with a 25% contingency for a maximum total of approximately $200,000.
Garrison added that on Tuesday’s meeting of the Vance Board of Commissioners that they had not been privy to the repair estimate information, but that they had as a whole considered the status of the Armory as well as the Southern National Bank building.
Specifically, the county commissioners discussed a plan where each entity would assume ownership of one of the buildings each rather than continue to share ownership. The board felt that this would expedite disposal of the buildings. If one government should realize a profit upon disposing of its building, it would share that profit equally with the other.
Coffey asked rhetorically if the Armory was worth more. Ayscue indicated that the land upon which the Armory sits is valuable, but that the building itself is a liability.
The last estimates done on the properties indicate that the Armory is worth $1 million and the Southern National Bank building is worth $60,000.
The city has discussed using the Southern National Bank building as a train station for high speed rail, although no concrete plans have yet been made.
Griffin said that no one has wanted to buy the Armory. He said interest has been in “carving up” the lot and isolating the building.
Coffey asked if the trade would be contingent on getting the Armory repaired.
“The jury is out on that,” Garrison replied. That question was not resolved during Tuesday’s meeting of the commissioners.
Garrison went on to stress the need for action on the buildings.
Members went on to decide to do a similar stabilization estimate on the Southern National Bank. The county delegation agreed to get a written proposal for the building swap to the city. There was some indication that the city and county may split the costs of stabilizing the properties, although no firm commitments were made.