Jonesboro, AR – JonesboroRightNow.com – The Jonesboro city council voted 8-4 Tuesday night to approve a resolution that would resolve litigation involving a lien on the property where the former Citizens Bank building once stood.

According to the resolution, the city would accept an offer to settle the litigation involving a $3 million lien that the city council voted to place on the property in early September 2025, in an effort to recoup the building’s demolition costs.

The owner of the land on which the building once stood, Laurel Park LLC, appealed the decision in the Craighead County Circuit Court in September 2025, according to court records. The resolution would terminate that litigation.

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In exchange for the city settling the lien, Laurel Park LLC would pay the city $110,000, which city officials said had been negotiated up from a starting settlement amount of around $55,000.

Once those funds are received, the city will remove its lien claims on the land. Part of that money will go toward paying the city’s legal fees incurred by the lien litigation, which city attorney Carol Duncan previously said was around $13,000.

During the discussion of the resolution, councilmember Joe Hafner said that the city’s demolition of the building made the property sellable. While the building still stood, no one would have bought the property, he contended. The land’s value has been appraised at around $300,000.

“If that building were still there, this property would not be sellable at all. I mean, I don’t think $300,000’s out of the question to get this thing moving. As much as I want to see this gone, I’m really struggling with us only getting $100,000, or $87,000, whatever it is,” Hafner said.

Councilmember Chris Moore responded that the flip side of that argument was that the city continued to fight the lien in court, which the city could lose. He said the litigation, which could take years, would result in additional legal expenses and no development on the property.

“We’re facing the maximum recovery of the appraisal value of that property down there at $309,000. We have an offer for a little over $100,000,” Moore said. “It’s a bad situation all the way around, but in that [time we spend litigating the issue], that property could sell and be developed and turned back into a revenue stream from the use taxes on it.”

Councilmember John Street said overall, it was a “lose-lose” situation, but said he’d rather see the property developed to bring revenue into downtown Jonesboro.

Council members David McClain, Dr. Anthony Coleman, Hafner, and LJ Bryant voted against the resolution, while all others voted for it.

When the resolution was forwarded to the full city council 4-1 on March 9 by the Finance and Administration Council Committee, McClain had voted against it, saying he thought it was the $110,000 figure was too low.

In December, the Jonesboro city council considered action to resolve the lien litigation, which involved buying the land where the building once was, as well as two surrounding lots, for $750,000 from Laurel Park LLC.

It was “essentially” killed when the council unanimously voted to send that resolution back to the Finance and Administration Council Committee, citing the little time they had to consider the offer and the land’s high price tag.

| READ MORE: Potential purchase of former Citizens Bank land ‘essentially’ killed by Jonesboro city council

Part of Main Street was shut down in September 2024 after a bulge was noticed on the side of the former Citizens Bank building, which was declared a public safety hazard. It was condemned in December 2024.

The city council voted in January 2025 to approve the building’s demolition. Demolition officially began in March 2025, and all streets affected by the project reopened to traffic in May 2025.

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