Dateline: July 20, 2006

City backs out of land purchase contract

By Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise

The Clarendon Board of Aldermen backed out of a deal to buy 160 acres southeast of the city during a called meeting Monday afternoon, putting to rest fears of neighboring landowners that a new landfill might be opened there.

“The city is out no money,” Mayor Mark White said Tuesday morning. “(Realtor) Jim Garland was able to find another buyer, so we just voided our contract and were able to get our escrow back.”

The board first discussed and voted to purchase the 160-acre site for $112,000 at its June 13 meeting, but two weeks later more than 20 citizens attended the aldermen’s next meeting to protest the idea that a new landfill might be located there.

City leaders said they were only trying to keep money – more than $40,000 per year plus time and fuel to dump in the Memphis landfill – in the community, but those in attendance questioned why more public input was not sought and said they feared what having a landfill nearby would do to their property values and their groundwater.

The board quickly backed away from the idea of locating a landfill on the property but was still left to deal with the contract already in place to purchase the land.

During last Tuesday’s regular meeting, Aldermen debated whether to continue with the purchase and use the land for materials or try to sell it later to break even or make a profit. The meeting ended with the board agreeing to seek the advice of City Attorney James Shelton on how best to get out of the deal altogether.

In other city business, the board last week approved several resolutions as part of the process to proceed with a Step grant for waterworks improvements on the west side of the city. Among those actions were motions to declare August as Fair Housing Month in the City of Clarendon and to appoint Alderman Tommy Hill as the city’s fair housing officer and Chris Sharp of the PRPC as the city’s labor standards officer.

The board considered and approved a bid totaling $7,986 from Roy Williams to repair driveways at four residences that were damaged as a result of the recent paving project. Aldermen also authorized the hiring of Myers Asphalt to repair the parking area in front of Alan Fletcher’s property on Collinson Street with the work not to exceed $3,200.