County delays closing on land purchase near fairgrounds

Taylor County will wait until the end of July for closing on the purchase of the Bauer property near the fairgrounds. Members of the county’s executive committee on Monday voted to give an extension on closing allowing the current owners more time to remove items from the property.

The county board approved purchasing the parcel last year with the intent of using it for evidence storage for the sheriff’s department and for equipment storage for the highway, land conservation and forestry department. The parcel is located northeast of the fairgrounds on Bauer Drive and adjacent to the highway shop property.

While the county intends to use a number of the existing structures on the parcel, there were other items, including vacant mobile homes, that the county asked to be removed from the parcel before the closing date of the sale which had been set for June 15.

According to Buildings and Grounds Director Joe Svejda, he has been in contact with the Bauers over getting the items removed and while a lot of work has been done, he said he felt it was unlikely they would have been able to get it done by the closing date.

“They have gotten some of it done,” said county attorney Courtney Graff, noting she felt there has been a good faith effort on the part of the Bauers to get the items removed. Graff had asked for the executive committee to meet to determine how the county wanted to move forward, noting there were multiple legal options including delaying the closing date for another month. “I think this is reasonable,” she said.

Committee member Chuck Zenner agreed. “They are longtime residents of the county,” he said, noting they are doing their best to get the items removed.

Svejda said he spoke to the department heads involved and noted there was no immediate demand to begin putting things on the property and that a delay of another month would not present a hardship to the county. “It is the other people they have to rely on to get the buildings out,” Svejda said, explaining the slowdown.

Committee members initially approved going out to a closing date of July 15, but then reconsidered and amended the action to give the property owners through the end of July to get the items removed.