The Carroll County Board of Commissioners voted Tuesday night to donate a portion of property in downtown Roopville to Holy Ground Baptist Church.

The church had previously been leasing the 5-acre lot, which contains primarily a baseball field. In a strange twist, the county doesn’t have a current deed for the property, with the most recent document detailing the sale history of the property going back to 1988. In that year, the property was given to the Roopville Youth Athletic Association, a predecessor to the present-day athletics booster club, from the Roopville Board of Education. Prior to that, the field belonged to what was Roopville High School.

In 2002, the property went to the county, a product of the Carroll County Recreation Department’s move to consolidate the youth athletic associations in Roopville, Whitesburg and Hulett. Less than two years later, the county stopped using the field for games, moving all sports to the existing recreation complex on Newnan Road.

Holy Ground first began to use the property in 2006, per a lease agreement with the county. As part of that agreement, the church would mow the grass, pay for utilities and maintain the facility. Outside of general upkeep, though, the church would not be required to pay for the land.

Around that time, the board of commissioners moved to provide the church with a long-term lease agreement that would stretch for nearly a century, but it was pointed out by Tommy Greer, county attorney at that time, that such an agreement would be legally impossible.

Even without an extensive lease agreement, the church did well to refurbish the property, keeping it free of the nefarious activities that once plagued the site, according to Commission Chairman Bill Chappell.

“What we’re transferring is a piece of property that was a dope-dealing haven and a good many prostitutes were there as well, from what I hear,” he said. “The church has done a good job cleaning it up, and we’re very grateful for that.”

It comes then as little surprise that the county would now give the property to the church, especially considering it was donated to the county in the first place and was not paid for with taxpayer monies.

Yet without a deed, some commissioners expressed concern that it was unclear what property the county was donating. Even then, said Commissioner Trent North, it makes no sense to hold the church accountable for the county’s clerical mistake.

“We should have a copy of the deed,” he said. “We should have something in writing, but I don’t think we should penalize [the church] for something we don’t have.”

The board voted 6-1 in favor of donating the land, with Commissioner Vicki Anderson abstaining.

On Tuesday, the board also:

• Entered into an intergovernmental agreement with the cities of Whitesburg and Temple for tax collection services.

• Postponed consideration of a project manager for the justice center until next month’s meeting.

• Awarded a contract to purchase two three-quarter ton pickup trucks for the Animal Control Department to Don-Rich Ford and awarded the additional contract for four mid-sized extended cab pickup trucks for the Department of Community Development to Walker GMC.

• Agreed to adopt a contingency plan should Avery Environmental, the county’s trash collector, enter into Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

• Approved a request from the NAACP for $5,000 to go toward the organization’s re-entry services program.

• Appointed Kim Jones to the Carroll County Board of Family Services.

• Approved a zoning request from Christy Born for a conditional use permit to establish an in-home daycare facility at 240 Ruby Court in Carrollton.

• Rejected a zoning request from Jill Burrell for a conditional-use permit to split 1.5 acres of land off from a 168-acre tract in Whitesburg.