Mike Ellis – Eureka Springs Mayor Butch Berry asked city council on Monday for authority to take bids to sell the White Street fire station, but the small property comes with some complications.
Dick Titus owns the adjacent property, and said he has tried to buy the property in question for 28 years. He said he owns a lease on the portion of the lot behind the fire station, and has a garage on that portion of the lot. The lease includes a provision that if the fire station needed to expand, that property would revert to the fire department, but his lease would remain in effect if the property changed hands.
Alderman Terry McClung suggested that the city sell the property “as is,” with Titus’s lease an encumbrance on the property. If someone else enters the highest bid, Titus will still own a lease on a portion of the property, and he’ll have a new landlord. Titus made no secret of his intentions to enter an artificially high bid to buy the property himself, and promised to retain the building’s exterior.
A survey of the property revealed some other discrepancies. A small section of the fire station extends onto an adjacent property owned by Steve Beacham, and he overlaps a small portion of the fire station property. Aldermen considered letting whoever buys the property resolve the situation with Beacham, but he replied, “I’d much rather get this sorted out with the city first.”
Council voted to prepare an ordinance to swap the two small portions and agreed to let the mayor proceed with the bid process.