Henry supervisors reject bid for sale of farmland

MT. PLEASANT - The Henry County Board of Supervisors decided against selling 29 acres of county-owned farmland at a meeting on Thursday.

County resident Jim Burden approached the board in late-September about purchasing the strip of land on Lexington Avenue that borders his property. Burden said the land would be for agricultural purposes and offered a bid of $3,500 per acre.

Before making a decision, board members consulted real estate agents to assess the value of the land and to decide whether it would be financially beneficial to sell the land.

Board member Gary See said he spoke to Mt. Pleasant Area Chamber Alliance Executive Vice President Kristi Perry and Mt. Pleasant City Administrator Brent Schleisman in case there would be interest from local businesses or the city. Perry reported there didn't seem to be any interest.

Schleisman said the city would be interested but did not have the funds for purchase at the moment.

Ultimately, See suggested the board not take any action on the bid from Burden.

'We have no interest in selling, even before you coming in … Thank you for the bid, but we didn't request it. If we were to later request a bid, we would probably be seeking a lot more. We'd have a reserve that would exceed what you offered us, and it would be an auction,” See said.

Board chairman Marc Lindeen added that following discussions with local real estate agents, he was told the bid was 'considerably low.”

Board member Greg Moeller added he 'believed it's in the county's long-term best interest to not sell the land at this point in time.”

'I feel in the development processes, that may or may not come up, that it would be more valuable back in tax dollars to the county than dollars in selling it for agricultural purposes,” Moeller said.

'We couldn't find good reason to sell, so we'll just hang on to it for another year or two,” See added.

The supervisors decided instead to continue leasing the land and awarded a bid to Mark Waters for $213 per acre. The lease is a three-year contract.