Land sale snagged on lingering questions

Surry County owns a piece of land at the corner of McMickle School Road and Haystack Road in Dobson that once housed a Head Start location.

When YVEDDI determined there was no longer enough demand for Head Start in that area, they closed the location down which left the county-owned building vacant. The board of commissioners voted to surplus the land at a meeting last August.

County Attorney Ed Woltz told the board at a meeting in April that there were obstacles blocking the sale of the building which Commissioner Eddie Harris said had great potential for a residence or another business.

“A couple of meetings ago this board surplussed the Red Hill Creek Community Center. We own it, we leased it to Red Hill Creek Community Center who leased it to YVEDDI who used it as a Head Start program. I circulated a three-way lease termination and there was some pushback. The community center was not aware the county owned the building,” he explained.

Woltz contacted Gail Brown, the president of the community center, who said she and the board had “some interest in continuing use of the facility. I suggested that she make a proposal to the county, have a budget and a plan of operation because basically YVEDDI operated the facility for Head Start and paid the community center rent; the community center paid the county $1 a year in rent.”

County manager Chris Knopf told the board when debating the decision to surplus the 5.22 acres of land last August that the community center building was last assessed at $109,250.

The board had left the door open somewhat for another organization to lease the building from the county rather than sell it.

“I know that we have spent some money on the building in the past on awnings and such. I know where it’s at and I’m going to agree with (Knopf) that we could go for a little while and see if there is an interest and someone wants to lease from us,” Commissioner Larry Johnson said at the time.

The kicker, Woltz said Monday, was that neither Red Hill Creek Community Center nor YVEDDI responded to the lease termination document he sent to them which leaves the process in a legal limbo. Without a lease termination agreement between the county, YVEDDI, and Red Hill Creek the process of advancing the surplus property to sale cannot move ahead.

Woltz said there had been some recent action however, “YVEDDI contacted us this week. In addition to the building there is a playground and playground equipment that was financed through HUD (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development) and the building was also financed through HUD.”

“We are trying to figure out what happens to any funds that are generated from the sale, and it appears for the building that HUD gets all the funds. For the equipment if it is less than $5,000 then the county would keep those funds. YVEDDI has asked to be reimbursed $2,000 for their fencing and its playground equipment. I have no indication that they have an interest in the playground equipment, so it bears further research. I need to nail down the fact that all our proceeds from the building go to HUD.”

Chair Van Tucker asked the county attorney what his recommended course of action for the situation and Woltz said by the board’s next meeting, he may know more.

In other county land news:

Knopf presented the commissioners with updates on existing bids for two county surplus properties. In February, Kenneth Carter made an opening bid of $5,000 for the county’s surplussed property on 980 West Mount Herman Church Road in Elkin. At that time, the commissioners were told the land had an appraised value of $12,500.

The commissioners voted on April 1 to accept that opening bid and therefore trigger a ten-day window for upset bidding. As of April 21, when the upset period ended, there had been no additional bids made meaning Carter’s opening bid was the lone bid.

As it falls in his district, Commissioner Eddie Harris recommended the county accept the offer for $5,000 and Surry County Attorney Ed Woltz reminded the board to add in the cost of listing the upset offer in the newspaper. Commissioner Bill Goins seconded the motion and the board agreed unanimously to sell then land to Carter.

Also in February, Chris Moore made an initial bid of $5,000 for the county surplus property located at 1466 Maple Grove Church Road. The land had an appraised value of $28,040.

When his initial offer was presented to the board, Moore was in attendance and had with him photos of the land showing its condition. Board members including Vice Chair Mark Marion were empathetic to the task Moore had ahead of him in clearing that lot if his bid were the final winner.

As was the case with the previous surplus property, Moore’s offer was the only offer when the ten-day upset bidding period ended. Commissioner Bill Goins moved to accept the bid and sell the land to Moore which was seconded by Marion; the measure passed unanimously.