A sign that progress is possibly being made in the potential sale of the Roanoke Rapids Theatre came Tuesday night as the city agreed to dismiss its lawsuit against Lafayette Gatling. Gatling has also agreed to dismiss his lawsuit against the city.

City Attorney Gilbert Chichester said this morning the dismissals were part of the proposed sale of the theater to Gatling. “That was called for in the agreement. The main thing is that’s another step in getting the agreement signed, we are making progress.”

Chichester said the decision, which came out of Tuesday’s closed session, also rids the city of encumbrances which could hurt its chances for sale to others should Gatling back out of the deal.

“It gives us a piece of property that is not encumbered,” Mayor Emery Doughtie said. “If someone else comes along and is interested in the theater, it wouldn’t be a detriment to us trying to market it.”

Doughtie said freeing the city of a lawsuit against it and a countersuit is also good for the audit.

It remains unknown when or if the deal will be consummated. Doughtie said, however, the dismissal of the suits by both parties is a good sign. “All the information I’ve gotten is I don’t see anything negative. Dropping his lawsuit is a sign he’s serious. I realize there are things involved and multiple people are involved in it.”

The decision comes as the city continues to prepare its budget for the upcoming fiscal year. The city, Doughtie said, is having department heads prepare one budget, one that assumes the sale is not going through as this point.

It appears the city should be able to get by if the theater deal is not struck by the time the next fiscal year budget is prepared, the mayor said. “We’ve got money in the fund balance. We’re doing whatever we can with the budget and looking at the fund balance. We don’t want it to go too low but I don’t think now is the time for a tax increase.”

While he has not seen the budgets department heads are preparing, he said the city is absorbing positions that have not been filled. “I don’t think we can continue to cut without having an adverse situation in the city.”