Vicksburg will sell a Clay Street building to Warren County for $225,000 if a verbal agreement on that figure holds up in the face of lingering political entanglements.

The former Southern Printing building at First North and Clay streets has been eyed by the Warren County Board of Supervisors as storage space for new touch-screen voting machines and by the E-911 Dispatch Center as a new base of operations.

At a gathering of the city and county boards Tuesday, arranged by the Vicksburg Warren Community Alliance, officials agreed to the city’s counteroffer, roughly splitting the county’s original offer of $150,000 and the city estimate of $389,000.

The agreement on a price did not come without exchanges between city and county officials.

Mayor Laurence Leyens revived the notion of converting the Warren County Emergency Management director’s position on the seven-member E-911 Commission to an at-large seat, saying a voice from either the private sector or the military &#8220would take politics out of the process” in communications during crises.

Leyens was critical of L.W. &#8220Bump” Callaway, employed by supervisors as the county’s emergency chief, during the Hurricane Katrina crisis, saying local governments were not sufficiently prepared.

Leyens told supervisors if the base of operations for emergency dispatch needed to be moved to have better conditions, then &#8220a more comprehensive” change was also in order for the E-911 Commission. He’s a member of that commission, as are Callaway and representatives of other city and county law enforcement and fire and rescue services.

Some supervisors responded that the meeting was called to talk about a building and a price.

&#8220I don’t think the appointment should be part of this discussion on the building at all,” District 2 Supervisor William Banks said.

&#8220There doesn’t need to be strings attached,” District 3 Supervisor Charles Selmon said.

Leyens later asked supervisors to commit to a date in writing to outfit the building to accommodate the dispatch center’s equipment, a process likely to take at least six months due to specific drawings and advertisements for bids to perform the work, supervisors said.

&#8220Because of that, they may be lucky to get in there in a year,” District 5 Supervisor Richard George said.

The consolidated dispatch center was authorized by voters in 1989 and is paid for by fees on phone bills and supplements from city and county funds. It has been housed in the Warren County Jail and in the basement of the Warren County Courthouse. This year’s budget is nearly doubled to buy new equipment and add staff.

Operations Director Geoffrey Greetham said a deal was needed based on continued deterioration of the water-damaged ceiling above the terminals at which many of the center’s 20 employees work in shifts around the clock.

&#8220At the risk of overstepping my job, I’m a little tired of the politics. Public safety is not political,” Greetham said.

He added that parking at the Clay Street building could be an issue but &#8220could probably be worked out.”

Both aldermen eventually agreed to the price, after South Ward Aldermen Sid Beauman began the talks &#8220on the higher side” of the offer.

&#8220I’m for letting the building go for two-and-a-quarter if the city gets usage out of it,” North Ward Alderman Michael Mayfield said.

The building will also be used to store, in a climate-controlled area, 138 suitcase-sized touch-screen voting machines, most coming from a state allocation.

Aldermen emerged from a brief recess and conference with Leyens and said another location could be found to house staff of the city’s public transportation system, mentioned as a third occupant of the building.

The mini-bus system is expected to start operations in the spring.