(Spirit Lake)– Disposition of some county-owned land south of the fire station in Lake Park was once again a topic of discussion at today’s (Tues.) Dickinson County Board of Supervisors meeting. The city has expressed an interest in acquiring the property for a possible future expansion of the fire station. Assistant County Attorney Lonnie Saunders told the supervisors the county has two options under Iowa Code on how to handle the matter…
“One, you could sell it to them by resolution in a public hearing for a price; or two, you can gift it to them as long as it’s for a public purpose. As far as I can tell there’s no reason you can’t do a hybrid of those two things: sell it to them for a price certain and then gift some of it back to them.”
Supervisor Kim Wermersen then made a motion to that affect…
“I move to sell parcel number 0127179002 which is the piece of property we’re talking about, to the city of Lake Park for its assessed value of $5,300. I further move that we gift the sum of $3,900 to the city in consideration of the fact that they have maintained the property for 39 years, we would figure that out at $100 a year, and also it is their intention to use the property for public purpose and I further move that this property be restricted for use as public purpose.”
Fellow supervisor Tim Fairchild expressed some concern over including the reference of the reimbursement for mowing…
“I don’t want to get into the habit of letting somebody mow my lawn and then all of a sudden owe them a bill for 30, 20, years? 39 years. I totally support this project, I’m 100 percent behind what they’re doing. I don’t like that language.”
Wermersen said he felt was important to stipulate the reason for the $3,900 reimbursement. Following some further discussion, the supervisors voted five to nothing to approve the transaction.
