Historic Courthouse in Round Top Being Batted Back and Forth Like a Volleyball

The saga over the Round Top Precinct Courthouse continued this week as the Town Council passed the ball back to the County. The Town Council voted Monday to only accept the courthouse if it comes without the deed restrictions proposed by the Fayette County Commissioners Court.

The vote came during a nearly four-hour-long Town Council meeting. The Council met for about two hours in a closed, executive session to discuss the matter with Town Attorney Josh Brockman-Weber.

“What the County has proposed doing is putting deed restrictions on the transfer of the courthouse,” Brockman-Weber said later during the open session. “If they don’t own any land, then they can’t have deed restrictions on the land.”

Several Round Top-area residents petitioned the Fayette County Commissioners Court several weeks ago to protect the precinct courthouse by designating it as a historical building. The move came in response to concerns over the renovation plans for the Round Top Town Square. The Commissioners Court recently learned about errors in the 1984 deed that purportedly transferred ownership of the courthouse from the County to the Town of Round Top. County leaders believe the County still owns the precinct courthouse. The Round Top Town Council has not disputed the County’s position.

Earlier this month the Commissioners Court attempted to resolve the matter by offering the Town a corrected deed for the property with some restrictions to protect the courthouse and its traditional use by two longstanding organizations, the Round Top Do Your Duty (DYD) Club, which organizes the Square Fair during the Antiques Show, and the Round Top Rifle Association, which uses the Square for the Fourth of July Parade and Celebration every year.

“In my view, the only way the County can transfer the courthouse would just be as a building,” said Brockman-Weber. “So this would be a bill of sale or just an agreement would be the only way they could convey the property.”

Round Top Town Clerk David Stall cited the 1870 Act of the State Legislature that incorporated the Town of Round Top. A portion of that act states one of the powers of the Town Council: “To exercise complete and perfect control over the common, and all property belonging to the town, real or personal … and generally to make such rules, regulations, by-laws, and ordinances, for the purpose of maintaining the peace, good order and government of the ‘Town of Round Top,’ and the trade, commerce, and manufactures thereof, as the council may deem expedient.”

The “common,” Stall said, refers to the public spaces within the town such as the Town Square.

During the meeting, Councilwoman Jeanette Burger asked the Town Attorney why the County proposed the deed restrictions if they don’t have the right to impose them.

“I don’t know,” Brockman- Weber said. “I think they were trying to solve a problem that was sent to them for a solution.

“If you were to transfer property, you could put conditions on it,” he added. “But the question y’all have to decide as a political body is whether or not you want to accept property that comes with conditions, and if that interferes with your rights or rights of the future council to make decisions about your town and this building and the square.” Councilwoman Amy Bone said several Round Top citizens have urged her to not accept the courthouse unless it comes with no conditions imposed by the County.

“The County has every right to convey it if they have ownership … but I have a problem with strings attached,” Bone said. “Either we own it, or we don’t own it.”

Councilman Owen Massey agreed, saying he has also gotten the same message from town citizens.

“As an incorporated town, we need to control our own destiny,” Massey said.

“I’m not always going to be sitting in this seat,” said Councilwoman Karen Duddlesten. “I don’t feel it’s my right to put encumbrances on future councilmen.”

The resolution that the Council later passed stated the following: “The Town is willing to accept the conveyance of the courthouse from the County provided it is unencumbered and free of attachment of a grant of privilege, right or thing of value to any person or organization.”

Before the Council voted, Mayor Judith Vincent invited the public to comment on decision.

“If you’re taking it as a sovereign government of this town, then you should have sovereign rights to the building on your property,” said Round Top area resident Nancy Addison.

DYD Club President Brenda Stardig questioned the Council’s reluctance to accept the County’s conditions.

“I know of lots of examples where that can be the case – where property was granted to school districts with conditions … so that they could guarantee the use going forward,” Stardig said.

The Council approved the resolution with a 3-0 vote. Burger did not cast a vote, as she explained after the meeting in response to a question from the Record.

“To be honest, I did not get to vote either way,” Burger said. “I did not vote yes, but (Mayor Judith Vincent) went so quickly afterwards, I did not get to vote no either. So in essence I did not vote either way. My understanding was that the county can not transfer property with stipulations, but as I now understand it, they can.”

Later, the Council approved another resolution that will essentially prohibit the Do Your Duty Club from holding their Square Fair during the antiques show. The resolution states that the town wishes to preserve the greenspace and public access to the Town Square during “designated events,” which are the Winter Antiques Show, Spring Antiques Show, Fall Antiques Show and the Fourth of July Celebration. The resolution states that no vendor booths will be allowed on the Town Square during those times. Mayor Vincent said the Square Fair will be allowed to go on for the Spring Show, which is about to get underway. After that, the new policy would go into place.

That was a much more controversial vote. The Council split 2-2, with Massey and Duddlesten voting in favor and Bone and Burger voting against. Councilman Lynn Conine was absent. Mayor Vincent cast the deciding vote in favor of the resolution, so it passed 3-2.

The discussion that preceded the vote got quite heated. One resident, local attorney Dan Goforth, got into an argument with the Mayor over a 2016 lease between the Town and the DYD Club for using the square during the Square Fair. The Council terminated that lease last year over disagreements about the location of vendor booths and the kinds of merchandise offered for sale.

Goforth questioned whether the Town gave proper notice to the DYD Club to terminate the lease, as stipulated in the contract terms. Stardig, the DYD President, told the Record after the meeting that the Town did provide proper notice. During the discussion, though, Goforth asked to see documents related to the lease termination. The Town Attorney told Goforth he could file a public information request for those records. Mayor Vincent asked Goforth to sit down. Goforth then stated again that he did not believe proper notice was given. Vincent asked Goforth to leave the meeting. Constable Roger Wunderlich escorted Goforth out of the courthouse without further incident.

Also during the discussion, Mayor Vincent said she was willing to discuss a possible arrangement for the Square Fair to return in the future. But she said no one from the DYD Club has spoken to her since the lease termination last year. Stardig told the Record after the meeting that was incorrect, saying she had personally spoken with Vincent about future of the Square Fair since that time.