Below is a copy of the comments I used to guide a discussion
at the Franklin County Board of Commissioners meeting on Wednesday, August 12,
2015 in which I encourage the board to get an appraisal when expending $539,504
of proceeds from the sale of property to re-acquire property that had
previously been sold by the County. The
board voted 3-0 to proceed with the purchase without an appraisal.
Comments:
As Auditor I have concerns the settlement agreement approved
on April 8th (2015-153)regarding the purchase of a property from CMV
Holdings and Franklin County at the TRAC Complex may be a gift of public funds.
Several elements are needed to alleviate
my concerns. A private sector/objective
market based appraisal of the property and an open public discussion on the
public purpose of the purchase. The content of the discussion may raise
additional questions.
Why am I interested?
The recent auction at TRAC piqued my interest in the “what”
and “why” the county was making this move now.
My almost 27 years in real estate means I am just interested in this
stuff. I had missed a few meetings and
attempted to use the public record to figure it out. Needles to say it has been instructive. I could not find a record of how you arrived
at the purchase price. And worse from
the record I could not discern a compelling public interest in exercising the
reversionary clause. I want to alert the
Board to a condition that would hard for you to know. Due to the number of Exec sessions you had
and the lack of public discussion in the records a citizen would not be able to
tell what you did and, more importantly, why you did it. That is why I am here to today. The public
deserves a transparent open government and those of us in this room can deliver
on that if we make it a priority; there would have been no way for you to know
the county was failing on that point.
