Negotiations are underway between Jim Thorpe Borough and Carbon County for the use of Memorial Hall for county court jury selection and trials in March and April.

Jim Thorpe’s council voted Thursday night to set the rental rate at $500 a day and now awaits word from the county on whether it will accept the terms of the agreement, make a counter offer or look for other venue options.

“They requested two weeks in March and one in April, four days each time,” Borough Manager Maureen Sterner said.

The county is looking for rental space because an elevator project will be getting underway in the courthouse in March.

Memorial Hall, along East Tenth Street, is owned by the borough and much of Thursday’s discussion centered on the rental rate. Rates of $150, $250 and $500 per day were all thrown on the table, before council unanimously voted on $500.

“My concern is that we get what we should for the use of the facility,” council President Greg Strubinger said. “We don’t want to shortchange the borough. If the county wants to make a counter offer, they are more than welcome to do that.”

County Commissioner Wayne Nothstein said as of Tuesday the county had not accepted the borough’s proposal.

Borough officials said the county didn’t offer any guidelines on what it was hoping to pay for the daily use of Memorial Hall.

“I can tell you that we get $200 when the elections are held here,” Sterner told council as it weighed its options.

Two precincts use Memorial Hall for voting purposes during the primary and general elections each year.

The back half of Memorial Hall is currently used as a distribution site for the Shepherd House/Jim Thorpe Food Pantry, but Sterner said the county indicated it would look into barriers to block off that portion of the room if trials were held there.

Councilman Thomas Highland questioned who would provide security during trials.

“The county would bring their sheriff’s deputies,” borough solicitor James Nanovic said.