Roane County Commission decides not to purchase the old Regions Bank in Kingston

The Roane County Commission voted last night to reject a proposal from a property owner, to purchase the former Regions Bank building in Kingston for a Building and Codes office. The discussion lasting for about an hour also saw several commissioners tour the 3rd floor of the courthouse after Chairman Randy Ellis recessed the meeting for the commission to see what space was like on the third floor, as it was mentioned it could be used as a possible new home for the codes enforcement office.  After reconvening, the debate continued and after first an amendment from commissioner Hooks to offer Steve Kirkham the building owner $800k from the original price of $875k was rejected narrowly so the original price and motion was placed on the board for a vote which saw it fail 11 to 4. Commissioners who voted in support of the purchase were Chairman Randy Ellis, Commissioners Benny East, Charlotte Cunningham, and Mike Hooks. The codes office on the grounds of the Jail, which is set to be possibly expanded, will eventually have to be relocated thus the reasoning behind this coming up the last 2 meetings. Commissioners will now wait until after they hear from the state corrections institute about how the jail expansion will go now that the overcrowding issue has been addressed and the jail population is seeing numbers monthly now around 205 down from 350.