“I would like to hear what was said in that meeting about that ordinance for the EDC [the Hempstead County Economic Development Corporation].” 

“About the courthouse?” asked County Judge Jerry Crane. 

“About the courthouse. I would like to know what was voted on,” Stewart said.  

JP Ed Darling said the ordinance Stewart referred to, which was approved by the Quorum Court, accepted funds from the Arkansas Department of Heritage, Parks and Tourism to replace the roof of the former Hempstead County Courthouse, a building completed in 1939, which county offices moved from, because of the presence of mold and significant water leakage, to its present location in 2022.  The grant provides $264,000 for the roofing job with no need for the county to provide a funding match. 

Stewart said she had been told that $25-$75,000 was being provided by the county to a contractor or architect.  

Darling said that any such fees were included in the grant and that the project itself was separate from the county.  The fact that the building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places has meant the building cannot be torn down. 

Stewart said that she found it strange the building’s placement on the registry was not mentioned in the court’s discussions about the old courthouse and, before collecting a two cent tax to pay for renovating and then moving to the new one, which had been a Farmer’s Bank location before the bank sold the building to the county in 2017. 

Stewart then referred to registered letters received by the county by residents asking for roads to be fixed. One of them, Stewart said, mentioned the fixing of the old courthouse as possibly taking up funds that might have gone to fixing roads. 

“Today, you can say on record there will never be any money used out of the county fund for working on that courthouse?” Stewart asked. 

County Treasurer Judy Flowers, sitting in the jury box, raised her hand. “I can answer that, Miss Cherry,” she said. “Road funds cannot be used for anything, buildings, maintenance, materials. [They] cannot be used for courthouse improvements.” 

Stewart reminded the court that the grant funds to be used were still taxpayer money and that no long-term plan for the 1939 courthouse had been proposed. “The EDC has not told me what they have intentions to do. They're just going to start building and take a couple of years, I guess, because I don't know, we're going to have a rotten building with just a new roof on.” 

JP Doris Brown disagreed that the building was rotten, saying she thought it had a good foundation and could be used to keep people from resorting to building tent cities. Stewart said before the move to the new courthouse she had told county workers they would be moved to a safer building they could appreciate. 

At this point Judge Crane said the meeting needed to move on. A motion by JP Jessie Henry was then made to accept the minutes. It was seconded and then unanimously approved. 

Next, the court approved an ordinance unanimously that accepts an Arkansas Administrative Office of the Courts grant for $5,000 to go toward the county’s juvenile courts.  $3,500 will go toward computer services and $1,500 toward training/education. 

Then Judy Watson, CEO of Rainbow of Challenges, formally requested a lease agreement from the county for its property on North Hazel that had previously been used for migrant workers’ housing and will soon be renovated thanks to a $3 million state grant that will convert the buildings there for use to house youth and young adults transitioning from foster homes.  Watson said she would have to get approval from the Rainbow of Challenges board for any proposed lease. JP Ed Darling said the lease would be a nominal one, likely only charging ROC a dollar per year for a term of five or ten years. 

The court voted in favor of leasing the property. 

Asked about fencing, Watson said partial fencing would be installed and an entrance would be made for vehicles coming into the property. 

County Clerk Karen Smith said the county had been found to have excelled in a federal audit. “Everything looks good on our federal funds,” she said. 

Darling informed the court that Medical Properties Trust had provided the real property in which Hope’s newly-renamed Southwest Regional Medical Center will operate to the county and to the city of Hope for free. Work is proceeding, he said, on drafting a lease agreement between the two governments and Pafford Medical Systems, which took over operations of the hospital. 

JP Jessie Henry said he heard two boards would need to be set up. Darling confirmed this. He said a board for the hospital itself would be formed and also a board recommended by both the Arkansas Municipal League and the Arkansas Association of Counties for a hospital development district which would include officials in both Hope’s and Hempstead County’s governments. Darling recommended that those who wish to be considered for the hospital send letters to Ben Gresham. 

JP Stewart asked about the money that has been committed to the hospital’s transition from being owned by Steward Health, which filed for bankruptcy in May and finally sold Wadley Regional Medical Center in Hope to local ownership when U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Christopher Lopez approved the arrangement September 12th. 

Darling said the city of Hope and the county had pledged a million dollars each. The Gresham family had put in $3 million. The state is being asked for $7 million. 

“Anymore business?” Judge Crane asked. 

“Motion to adjourn,” JP David Clayton said. 

The motion carried.