FARMVILLE – Town Council voted during its reconvened February meeting Wednesday night to enter into a lease/purchase agreement for the former library building on West Third Street with the Patrick Henry Boys and Girls Homes.

The non-profit interdenominational Christian ministry has served children and families for half a century and its stated mission is to “provide a continuum of services to children and families at risk that will keep families together and children safe.”

The Brookneal-based organization plans to use the building as a counseling center.

“We have had a request from the Patrick Henry Boys and Girls Homes to rent the building,” Town Manager Gerald Spates told council after a closed session Wednesday night. “And I'd like to ask council that we consider approving a lease/purchase arrangement at a purchase price of $225,000. The rent will be set at $700 for the first year and we could renegotiate after that year and any rent that they pay will be applied to the purchase price of $225,000. It will be a triple net lease to where they pay all the maintenance and everything on the building, taxes and insurance.”

A motion was made and passed unanimously.

Town Council had voted earlier this month to enter into an option agreement to sell the former Farmville-Prince Edward Community Library Building at 217 West Third Street to another buyer for $225,000 but that transaction did not materialize.

In a January 20, 2012 letter to Spates, Patrick Henry Boys and Girls Homes Executive Director Robert J. Day, praises the former library building as “a good location and structure for the new counseling center.”

The former library building had been deeded to the Town to facilitate sale of the property, with proceeds benefiting the library at its new location.

In his letter, Day tells Spates, “On behalf of the staff and Board of Patrick Henry Boys and Girls Homes, I want to thank you for your gracious efforts and courtesy in assisting us in opening the Hope for Tomorrow Family Counseling Center in Farmville. You and your staff have been-and continue to be-so helpful and we feel genuinely welcomed, at home already!”

The center will counsel both individuals and families.

When the library building is sold the proceeds from the sale will be put into an escrow account for use by the library, now prospering at its new location adjacent to Wilck's Lake, to purchase equipment.

As for what $225,000 in an escrow account would mean, the library's director Peggy Epperson has previously noted one possible future use-47 computers-during an interview with The Herald.

All 47 of the computers were purchased at the same time, 37 for the public and 10 for library staff, and so they would likely need replacing all at the same time some day.

And those computers, along with everything else at the library, continue to attract thousands of users.

During the first full year, the new library location attracted 94,000 visitors.

There are, as well, 18,000 registered borrowers, Ms. Epperson noted, in a county with a population of approximately 23,000.

The new library building was constructed jointly through funding from both the Town of Farmville and Prince Edward County.