City Motion To Join Land Bank Fails

Washington City Council took up two measures concerning distressed properties at its regular meeting Thursday night. The first measure was to attempt to approve joining the Washington County Land Bank. A motion was put forth but the item died due to lack of a second. The land bank is operated by the Washington County Redevelopment Authority. They purchase distressed properties that are sold at tax sale and rehabilitate those properties and sell them to the public. According to Mayor Scott Putnam, there are some requirements and language items that need to be ironed out before the city is comfortable entering into the arrangement. Putnam says council sees the benefit and they are close to an agreement. The second issue concerned the property at the corner of North Main Street and West Chestnut Street. Council approved a measure to turn the property over to the Redevelopment Authority and have them to assess the property and get estimates to demolish the building and finish any related site work. The measure passed unanimously but Councilman Ken Westcott cautions council to make sure that everything is done in the proper fashion. The city does not own the building and there is a 1 million dollar federal lien against the property. All of this work is pertinent, but he wants to make sure the city is not stuck with a cost that they did not expect.