The old Verhine Building is a safety hazard and a blight on the Adams Street neighborhood where it sits and should come down, Mayor George Flaggs Jr. said.

And he is willing to help the Warren County Board of Supervisors’ efforts to raze it, if the supervisors will agree to turn the area into a green space. The building is presently for sale by the county.

The supervisors in 2014 filed a petition with the city’s Board of Architectural Review to demolish the building and the nearby old Justice Court Building at 1019 Adams St. The request was denied because both buildings were in the downtown historic district. The Board of Mayor and Aldermen upheld the decision. Flaggs at the time supported keeping the buildings, saying it was the city’s duty to enforce the city’s ordinances.

“I’ve changed my mind,” Flaggs said Wednesday, citing the condition of the building. “There comes a time when you have to put the public’s safety ahead of protecting a building,” he said.

The county has blocked the alleyway between the wood frame building and a neighboring building to the north, because a cornice, or piece of molding along the roof toward the rear of the house, was blown loose by high winds and is dangling from the roof.

Flaggs said he will support razing the building if the county goes before the Architectural Review Board with a second request to take the building down. If the board denies the petition, he said, the county can appeal to the Board of Mayor and Aldermen, and he will recommend overriding the review board’s decision.

Board of Supervisors President Richard George said he talked with Flaggs about the building Wednesday.

“We still have a permit to demolish the building,” he said. “He has a pretty good idea; we will still have the other building (the old Justice Court Building) for sale. A green space might help sell it. It’s something we need to consider.”

George said he did not know when the supervisors will discuss Flaggs’ proposition.