News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The Van Buren County Commission has given Priority Waste Services until October 1 to close on the BDS property sale.
County Mayor Greg Wilson was not in attendance but submitted a letter asking the commission to nullify the bid if the date is not met. Commissioner Henry Seamons responded to a citizen who asked why the company has extended this process after claiming to be ready to purchase in April.
“It was my understanding, one of the problems they were having was just like every other business in this country is dealing with in fact, is employees,” Seamons said. “That was what they kept saying but that’s why we want to give them this deadline. It’s time to move on.”
Commissioner William Maxwell said the county advertised selling the property on three occasions, only getting one bid at $200,000. If the sale does not close, the property will go back to committee, starting the sale process over.
“First off, we advertised for a commercial real estate agency to list it and I believe we got no bids on that,” Maxwell said. “Then we put it out for bid our self, so that would have been the second time, got no bids. We agreed to open it up a third time to take bids on the property and they gave us a bid of $200,000. There was never a price set on the property with the bids.”
Commissioner Bill Mosley said he made the motion in Committee B on the breakdown of the sale. However, he said the original plan for how the sale money would be used was overruled at the state level.
“$100,000 in my motion was to go to pay the school off and the other $100,000 was to be put in a rainy day fund,” Mosley said. “Comptroller got involved in it and they will not approve a rainy day fund. They tell you to put it somewhere else.”
Mosley said the intention of the sale to Priority Waste Services was to try and bring jobs into the county. It was said during the meeting that there was belief the company would build a transfer station on the property.
