The Falkville Town Council discussed buying the building at 121 and 123 Grissom Way at their regularly scheduled work session Tuesday.

Brenda Grissom is the owner of the building up for consideration, which is one block away from Falkville Town Hall. Grissom is willing to sell the multiple-unit building for $60,000.

The Council is considering an agreement to pay $30,000 up front and pay the remaining $30,000 over five years through $505 monthly installments with a one percent interest rate.

The building held a restaurant owned by Connie Brechtel, which would remain available for lease by her for a certain amount of time after the Council purchased the property.

If the Council made the purchase, the building would eventually be torn down and turned into a parking lot.

Grissom had a specific request that if the building was torn down, a commemorative plat of concrete that is currently under the front steps be kept intact and displayed in some way in the new construction. This request could be added to the existing agreement since the Council has not yet voted to let Mayor Bob Ramey sign the agreement.

Some councilmembers had a few financial reservations during the discussion. Councilman Alton Hill was concerned about how the $30,000 was being funded.

“Buying this building wasn’t in the list of 10 projects we wanted to focus on,” Hill said. “Is there anything on that list we will have to cut or move down the list because of this expense? I want to know where exactly this money is coming from before I decide if I think it’s worth doing, because $30,000 will affect something no matter where it comes from.”

Ramey assured Hill that the list would not be altered.

“We have enough money to pay the $30,000 now without cutting anything,” Ramey said. “We can draw from the general fund, and that won’t move or shift any of the projects around because those are capital improvements projects funded by the extra sales tax. We have to spend money to make money, and I think we will be sorry later down the road if we don’t buy this now since we have the funds.”

The building does not currently have any sort of insurance plan. The Council agreed that the agreement should include a nonliability clause stating that the town is not responsible for any injuries or accidents that occur on the property. The Council also discussed the possibility of adding the building to their existing insurance plan. Town Clerk Dawn Estes said adding the building would be a simple solution.

“I’m not sure exactly how much it would cost to add the building, but that would be easy to get done,” Estes said. “I can call our insurance company and find out.”

The Council will vote on the issue Tues., Aug. 5 at their scheduled council meeting.