The transfer of ownership of a former railroad depot to the City of Rockingham is far from a done deal.

Questions have arisen over the proposed transfer of ownership of the depot from the Richmond County Historical Society to the City of Rockingham, and it looks as if what seemed a cinch may not be so.

Richmond Historical Society Depot Committee Chairman Charles Deane questioned the decision to ask the City of Rockingham to accept ownership of the Rockingham Depot without compensation Wednesday.

He pointed to the fact the matter was tabled during a recent meeting of the Historical Society.

On June 1, the Historical Society discussed the matter, but some members felt the building should not be relinquished without gaining some type of compensation, which led the matter to be tabled until a future meeting.

The next scheduled meeting of the Historical Society is in August.

Historical Society President Dr. John Stevenson could not be reached for comment at press time. Stevenson wrote a letter to City Manager Monty Crump on May 20 making a formal pitch to transfer ownership of the building to the city.

The property, worth in excess of $1 million, is currently located at the intersection of Business 74 and South Hancock Street. It houses the Richmond County Chamber of Commerce.

“There are some issues that need to be resolved before the Historical Society transfers the Depot to the city,” Deane said. “I’m not saying that that’s not what needs to happen or will happen, but these issues need to be resolved first.”

Deane said the Historical Society still has $18,000 designated to be spent on the Depot.

Furthermore, Deane said discussions of relinquishing ownership of the Depot have included discourse about liability.

“I don’t see the liability issue,” he said.

Rockingham City Manager Monty Crump also pointed out that the city council’s vote to agree in principle to accept ownership of the Rockingham Depot doesn’t mean it’s a done deal.

“They authorized myself and the city attorney to look into the legality of the issue,” he said in a phone interview Wednesday.

The depot building was originally located about a mile west of its current location along the railroad tracks.

The land for the depot’s current location was acquired by the society on August 27, 1999 for $90,000. CSX officially donated the building to the society on June 30, 2000.

In 2005, the Historical Society was awarded a $100,000 grant for the complete renovation of the builidng.

In the city council meeting last Tuesday, both the mayor and mayor pro-tem of Rockingham expressed their support for the building. The measure passed by unanimous count on the council.

Crump told the council the rent on the building created enough of a stream of revenue to pay for utilities and general maintenance.