The White County Commission approved selling 20 acres of land to the state Monday night surrounding the historic Rock House.
County Commissioners bought the land at the request of state officials, who want to maintain the area around the former stagecoach shop. State officials were worried the owner would sell the land before the state could finish its purchase process. County Commissioner T.K. Austin said the county needs to honor its commitment.
“This is the property that he had purchased in order to hold it for the state until they could get their procurement done,” Austin said. “And at this time, they’ve reached it and we need to surplus this to sell it to them.”
Commissioners have voted at least twice to sell the property this fall, but the motion failed mostly because of low attendance at the meeting. Chairman Derrick Hutchings said the previous vote failed for lack of majority after having seven votes out of eight.
County Executive Denny Robinson said he prepared a resolution similar to the original, hoping to avoid any difficulties revisiting the resolution. Austin made a motion to surplus the property and sponsored the resolution with Commissioner Robert McCormick.
“Our new resolution has been drafted,” Hutchings said. “And all that was changed was the resolution number.”
Hutchings said the land would be sold at $240,000. Commissioner Chris Brewington dissented. Brewington said the state deal did not provide enough benefit for the county.
In other business, the Commission declared two items from the Sheriff’s Department surplus, a 2015 Ford Explorer and a Vantage Robotics Vesper Drone.
The Ethics Oversight Committee elected Dakota White as Chairman, T. K. Austin as Vice Chairman and Robert McCormick as Secretary.