County Property for Sale?
by: Dwayne PageFeb 23, 2025
County property for sale?
During Monday night’s regular monthly meeting, the county commission may consider a recommendation from the Revenue Research Committee on whether to sell two pieces of county owned property.
Larry Green, Chairman of the committee, reported on the recommendation during Tuesday night’s workshop meeting of the full commission. Other members of that committee are Vice Chairman Andy Pack and member Mathias Anderson.
The proposal is for the county to sell property behind the Smithville City Police Department and land on Four Seasons Road where the Pine Creek Saddle Club was once located. In a separate recommendation, Green said the committee wants the county to begin the process of establishing a building permit system through which the county could collect fees on inspections of new construction rather than the state.
“We have talked to a certified building inspector, and he has volunteered his time to help us put in a building permit system,” said Commissioner Green. “His emphasis is on contractors rather than homeowners. If we approve this then we will get into more details on building permits later,” he said.
By selling county owned properties, Green said the county could take revenue from the sales and apply it to other county needs.
“We (committee) are recommending and asking permission for the county to sell two pieces of property, the Pine Creek Saddle Club and the East Walnut Street property directly behind the Smithville Police Department. Some of the other (county owned) lots like at Holiday Haven and Lakeview Mountain Estates, we have to figure out a way to group those together and try to sell them later,” said Chairman Green.
County Mayor Matt Adcock said there is interest in both properties. He added that the City of Smithville perhaps would like to purchase the land behind the police station. Unlike selling county property to the public, Mayor Adcock said the county would not be bound by competitive bidding laws in selling directly to another government entity.
“These two properties we are recommending selling seem to be very viable pieces of property and we could put the money back into the reserve fund. If for instance, Wolf Creek comes on board and we get approval to build that public safety building down there, we don’t have a fire truck for it. We could take the money from the sale of these two pieces of property and probably buy a fire truck,” said Green.
Questions were raised about whether selling those properties, particularly the lot behind the city police department is a good idea.
“They are not making any more land, and we are rapidly running out of space,” said Commissioner Tony Luna. “That (property behind the police department) would be a perfect place for a welcome center, mayor’s office, or chamber office. You sell them (properties) to buy a fire truck in five years we will be replacing that fire truck,” said Luna.
“We don’t replace fire trucks every five years,” replied Commissioner Green.
“We also have other places we could move the chamber of commerce,” Green continued.” We haven’t figured out yet what to do with the old jail when we move out of it. Or if we do wind up building courtrooms, at some point where we build the jail, then we could move the chamber of commerce back into the courthouse where she was before,” said Green.
“I thought the whole point of moving all that out (of courthouse) was for (courthouse) security,” Luna responded.
“If we move the courtrooms out (of courthouse) then there is not that need for courtroom security,” Green said.
Commissioner Jeff Barnes then asked, “What if the jail goes back where it’s at?’
“Then we will leave the chamber where they are at”, replied Green. “I don’t think we can afford to build another building in the next five years,” he added.
“If you’re going to hire a building inspector, where are they going to go? And If we ever go to centralized accounting, where are they going to go,” asked Commissioner Barnes.
“The piece of property behind the police department is not big enough to build a building to house everything,” said Commissioner Green.
“We figured it would house three offices when it was purchased,” Barnes responded.
“I have to agree with Tony they just don’t produce land every day and its (land) not going to get any cheaper anytime soon either,” said Commissioner Greg Matthews.
“We have struggled particularly over the last year with funding things at the courthouse and with the jail. The idea that anybody thinks that there is going to be money for building something else in this county at any time in the foreseeable future to me, I don’t see it. That piece of property is just going to set there,” said Commissioner Tom Chandler.
“And we could use the revenue,” added Commissioner Green.
“I don’t think we need to get into whether it (funds from property sale) would be used for a fire engine or whatever it is. The question to me is could the county use that piece of property and if it were worth a half million dollars could the county use that money. Do we have any viable near-term use for that piece of property,” said Commissioner Chandler.
If the county votes to sell one or both properties, as recommended by the committee, County Mayor Adcock said funds will first be used to conduct appraisals of the sites.
Meanwhile Commissioner Mathias Anderson discussed what a building inspection fee system might look like based on the recommendation of the revenue research committee.
“My fear was that this might be taken as we would be implementing a bunch of new rules for something that has to be inspected. That is not the case,” said Commissioner Anderson. “In 2008 we decided not to have a building inspector but now we have a lot of new construction, and we will continue to. The idea was to look into it more, get more numbers on how many new homes and businesses are being built and instead of those builders having to reach out to the state for all the different inspections we would have someone here do that. Instead of the money (for inspections) going to the state it would stay here. We could calculate and see if the revenue would be more than the salary (for the inspector). If so, it might be worth doing. We’re talking about permits for like electrical inspection, plumbing inspections, etc.,” he said.
“We have discussed building permits in the past but after a certain year if your county did not have a building permit structure set up you were not allowed to have it unless your county has a (certain) percent growth year over year for three years in a row then you could implement a building permit fee structure but I checked last spring and as of right now we are not quite there,” said Commissioner Anderson.
The county commission meeting will be Monday night, February 24 at 6:30 p.m. in the auditorium of the county complex.
Tigers Advance, Lady Tigers Eliminated from District Tournament
by: Dwayne PageFeb 23, 2025
The DCHS Tigers will advance in the District 7AAA basketball tournament after eliminating White County (#3 seed) Friday night 55 to 50 at Cumberland County High School in Crossville. The season ended for the Lady Tigers (6-23) as they lost to the Cumberland County Lady Jets 60 to 26.
The Tigers (#6 seed) will meet Stone Memorial (#2 seed) tonight (Saturday, February 22) in the second round of the District Tournament starting at 5:30 p.m. WJLE will have LIVE coverage.
In the boys game Friday night White County led 13 to 7 after the 1st period. The game was tied at 24 by halftime. The Tigers pulled ahead 35 to 31 after the 3rd period and went onto upset the Warriors 55 to 50.
Trip Pinion for White County, the district’s Defensive MVP, left the game in the 4th period with an injury.
For the Tigers, Dallas Kirby scored 16, Jordan Parker 11. Seth Fuson 10, Porter Hancock and Jon Hendrix each with 6, Elliot Barnes 4, and Logan Duke 2.
The Tigers improve to 10-19
The Lady Tigers proved no match for Cumberland County trailing 18 to 3 after the 1st period, 41 to 11 at halftime, and 55 to 21 after the 3rd period before losing 60 to 26.
For DC, Avery Agee 9, Jordyn Agee 6, Chloe VanVranken 5, Allie Melton 3, Camille Barton 2, and Lillie Young 1.
Jones Sentenced to Six Years on Probation in Auto Burglary and Theft Cases
by: Dwayne PageFeb 23, 2025
A man who allegedly broke into four vehicles and tried to steal a 2012 Bobcat T-750 and Caterpillar bucket from a local automotive dealer more than two years ago was sentenced Tuesday, February 18 in DeKalb County Criminal Court.
55-year-old Burnette Bernie Jones entered a plea to two counts of auto burglary and one count of theft over $10,000. He received a six-year sentence in the theft case and one year in each of the auto burglary offenses to run concurrently and all suspended to probation. Jones was given jail credit of 212 days.
The incident occurred Sunday, October 2, 2022.
According to the complaint, Jones was observed on the auto dealer’s surveillance camera entering and driving a 2012 Bobcat T-750 in the back of the business. Jones was also observed trying to strap down a Caterpillar bucket to the 2012 Bobcat T-750. The total value of the 2012 Bobcat T-750 and Caterpillar bucket was $54,500.
While at the same business, Jones allegedly broke into a 2004 Black Nissan Maximum, a 2014 Black Chevrolet Silverado, a 2003 Red Chevrolet Tahoe, and 2008 Black Chrysler Sebring all parked at the car lot with the intent to deprive the owners of their belongings within these vehicles.
Meanwhile, 47-year-old Jessica Jo Bates entered a plea to misdemeanor theft and received a sentence of 11 months and 29 days all suspended to probation, supervised for six months and then she will be on good behavior probation if there are no further issues and provided costs are paid.