BENTON — To help ease some of the parking issues in downtown Benton, the Franklin County Board recently purchased the former Benton Evening News building for $45,000.

Board Chairman Randall Crocker says work is underway to prepare the building for demolition.

Crocker says the county will have to notify the EPA about tearing down the building, then seek bids from contractors for demolition work before anything can be done.

Crocker hopes to have the building demolished and rock put down so the new parking lot can be used by the end of this year. The county hopes to have the parking lot project completely done by early spring or summer.

Even though the Benton Evening News is now called the Benton News, the newspaper office closed in 2017. Its staff works remotely.