St. Louis County is moving out of a Duluth neighborhood as it consolidates operations in the new Pike Lake public works facility.
The county board will consider proposals to sell the tool house at 24 E. Willow St. With a bunch of obsolete or underused buildings tucked away all over the county, such sales of surplus property could become common.
In 2000, the Willow Street property was appraised at $140,000. It has attracted interest from potential buyers, including the Arrowhead Economic Opportunity Agency. The agency has submitted a proposal, and the county has received several other inquiries, said county property manager Tony Mancuso.
As a result, the board has set Aug. 12 to review the proposals and possibly select one. The Morris Thomas Road tool house and several other properties will be sold in September.
These are known as county fee properties and are separate from tax forfeit properties.
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Mancuso said that before a property is put up for sale, it goes through a review process to make sure it is no longer needed. It can then either be auctioned off or put out for proposals.
He said sales are advertised in advance, and adjacent property owners and parties that have expressed an interest in the property are notified.
"If we get several proposals, they will be submitted for review and debated at a board meeting," he said. "It (the sale) still has to be in the best interest of the county."
"There are a bunch of properties out there now ready to go in the future," he said. As a result, a county policy is expected to be considered in September, providing guidelines for future sales.
In other action:
- The board authorized turning surplus equipment over to the South St. Louis County Fair Association at no cost.
- The board tabled until July 22 awarding a bid for construction work on the Floodwood River Trail.
- The board voted to rebid the purchase of eight snowplow trucks to give local dealers an opportunity to participate. It also set a requirement that the trucks will have to be serviced in St. Louis County.
- It gave initial approval to accepting a bid for improvements to Industrial Road in Twig.
- After a lot of discussion it gave a preliminary OK to the purchase of video conferencing equipment by the Public Health Department.
