By Melinda J. Overstreet / Glasgow News 1
The sale of city-owned land parcels along West Main and West Water streets meant to be part of the property to be used for a new justice center for Barren County was approved by the Glasgow Common Council at a special meeting Wednesday evening.
With all members present, the vote was unanimous.
At Monday’s regular meeting, some members of the council expressed concern that the survey presented with the resolution at that point to finalize the option to purchase agreement with the Barren County Public Properties Corp. was not the same amount and/or boundaries as on the mapping shown to the council in September when it approved the option. After considerable discussion, the vote was delayed and the matter tabled until Wednesday’s special-called meeting to allow time for clarifications and/or corrections to occur.
Rich Alexander, an attorney and member of the Barren County Judicial Center Project Development Board, the group charged with overseeing that project, was on hand, as he put it, “to explain and to rectify an unintended error.”
He said the documents presented to the council on Monday were erroneous.
Alexander said that the council agreed in September to sell two areas that were colored shades of orange – immediately west of Ford Drive and between West Water and West Front streets — and one that was colored blue – immediately west of Ford Drive from West Main Street to West Water Street. Ford Drive itself is to be closed and then transferred as well for use with the project. When the formal survey was done showing the segments to be sold, he said, it did not “carve out” a couple of places that had been agreed would not be part of the property transfer.
This is a portion of a color-coded map provided to the Glasgow Common Council at its special meeting Wednesday showing corrections to reflect two pieces that had earlier been agreed would not be part of a property transfer for a judicial center project. The portion of “property 1A (divided)” shown in gray as opposed to orange is not being sold, and neither is the portion of “property 2 (divided)” that is in gray rather than blue.
One of those was along West Water Street – a piece of one the orange-colored areas. The other was with the blue section between West Main and West Water and west of Ford Drive; it went farther west than what had been agreed.
He described the locations as they appeared on the color-coded map but then showed them more specifically on a black-and-white plat that was positioned on a tripod near the council dais.
The PDB also is purchasing adjacent properties from Dollar General Store and the Glasgow Water Co., which owns the former Glasgow Glass location behind the Dollar General Store.
He said some of the acreage numbers still didn’t add up exactly as on the September resolution since the survey. One section was off by 0.02 acres and another by 0.03 acres, “but it’s as close as we can get,” he said.
He repeated that the issue that arose was an unintended error.
Councilman Terry Bunnell clarified exactly which sections were off by the amounts he’d just mentioned, and there was discussion about how much property there remained in the city’s hands, with estimates around 1.42 to1.43 acres. This is the intended site for a farmers market/multi-use pavilion and other plans.
The total amount in those three areas — the two orange and one blue — is 2.79 acres, and the proposal also includes the closure of that section of Ford Drive, which is 0.42 acres, for a grand total of 3.21 acres, the newly approved resolution states. The appraised value was $670,000.
Councilman Patrick Gaunce pointed out the city also has some adjacent land a little farther west, but it had not been part of these discussions.
Mayor Harold Armstrong told Alexander, “I know it’s been a running in circles for the last day and a half, but thank you for correcting it.”
He also thanked Councilwoman Chasity Lowery who had, at Monday’s meeting, used a photo she took with her phone of the color-coded map that had been projected on the wall in September to compare what was proposed Monday and insisted it was not the same. She said she’d taken the photo so she could zoom in on it to see details better.
“Thank you for bringing that to attention with your trusty photo on the phone,” Armstrong said.
“It pays not to be able to see,” Lowery joked back.
One other item addressed at this meeting was essentially a “housekeeping” matter, and that was to correct the name of Glasgow-Barren County Tourist and Convention Commission on an agreement to sell it the building it now occupies next to City Hall. That amendment was also approved unanimously.
Barring the necessity of any additional special-called meetings, this was the last meeting at which Armstrong will preside, as he did not seek re-election and his four-year term ends with this calendar year. It was also Councilman Wendell Honeycutt’s last meeting, concluding 12 years on the council.
The council would normally have another meeting on the fourth Monday of the month, but the one that would have been scheduled for Dec. 26 was canceled due to the holiday.
Mayor-elect Henry Royse and the nine individuals selected in the Nov. 8 election as the council members for the two-year term of 2023-2024, eight of which are incumbents, are scheduled to take their oaths of office at 10 a.m. Dec. 30 in the Council Chambers, with District Judge Gabe Pendleton officiating.
The first regular meeting of the council with its one new member, Max Marion, and the new mayor is scheduled for 7 p.m. Jan. 9.
Comments