Saddle Club location off the sale block
By LYNETTE SOWELL
Cove Leader-Press
The future of a piece of city-owned property up for sale is now yet to be determined after the Copperas Cove City Council voted to reject all offers on the property during its regular meeting on Tuesday night.
The more than 15 acres off Boys Ranch Road has been leased by the Copperas Cove Saddle Club, a 501(c)4 nonprofit, for 24 years and still has one year left on its current lease.
Approximately two dozen supporters of the Copperas Cove Saddle Club showed up Tuesday night, with several addressing the council during citizens’ forum as they did at the prior meeting.
Anton Pospisil who owns property near the club’s leased space is one of five who made offers to buy the property. On Tuesday evening, he again asked the council to accept his offer, followed by members of the saddle club.
The council held an executive session to discuss the matter of the property with Habib Erkan, the city’s attorney. Back in open session, Erkan reminded the council that according to the Texas Government code, if the city offers a property for sale, it must accept the highest bid. He said their options that evening would be to accept the highest bid, reject all bids, or continue the item.
Councilman George Duncan made the motion to reject all bids, with councilman Matthew Russell seconding the motion.
Place 4 councilman Jay Manning said it would be “dishonorable” to take any course of action other than the one presently set in place by the council.
“While I sympathize with the Saddle Club and appreciate what they do, the only honorable thing for us to do is to accept the highest bid,” Manning said.
Duncan saw it differently.
“I believe the most dishonorable thing to do in this particular case is to turn your back on an institution, on a culture,” he said. “We committed as a council to get out of the leasing business and we will continue to do that. But when information becomes available, you peel back the proverbial onion, you realize sometimes the action that you take has a dramatic, long-lasting, effect, unintentional. I believe it’s in our best interests to reject all bids and to open it up later on a future resolution that will benefit both the city, but first and foremost, benefits our residents, and wraps our arms around an institution that has survived many, many councils.”
One bidder on the property, Debbie Vaughn, said she and her husband own the property behind the land in question. She expressed their desire to purchase the property for their children and grandchildren to build on and live. She questioned why the council put the property up for sale if they already knew the Saddle Club was there.
“If you weren’t going to sell it, if you were just going to let them have it, then why didn’t you do that to begin with?”
Ultimately, the council voted 5-2 to reject all offers on the property, with Manning and fellow councilman Dan Yancey voting against rejecting the property offers.
During its March 2016 annual retreat, the council had discussed selling properties it currently leases and giving tenants a three-year plan that would let those entities leasing properties know they have three years to decide what they will do. However, it was also discussed at that time that in certain cases, verbiage can be put in those notices and MLS sales notices that would restrict the use of those buildings and pave the way for groups to purchase the properties they currently lease.
The council renewed a two-year lease with Star Group – Veterans Helping Veterans at its Jan. 17 meeting, but the group was reminded that the building on the property on South 4th Street may go away in the future. The other property the city has up for sale currently is the Allin House, the historic home of the city’s first mayor.
Also on Tuesday evening, the council approved various purchases for the city’s new IT building located at 508 S. 2nd St. Those purchases are for audio/visual hardware, security cameras and system, an emergency generator, along with network cables and installation. All except one item were approved initially in the consent agenda vote, with the purchase of audio/visual hardware being pulled for its own discussion and vote.
In a 4-3 vote after discussion, the council approved the purchase of the audio/visual hardware from Brazos for a total of $24,155.97, with councilmen James Pierce, Kirby Lack, Duncan and Russell in favor of that purchase, and councilmen Yancey, David Morris and Manning against the purchase. The ones voting against the higher bid preferred to go with Inhouse at a cost of $21,931.
The council also approved emergency repairs to City Park pool for no more than $15,300, which amount also includes a contingency for the repair work; the reappointment of Charles Moore and Janice Glosson to the library advisory board; the purchase of a side loader refuse truck and a brush grapple truck for the Solid Waste Department, for a total of $408,378 paid for with certificate of obligation funding from 2015 and 2016; a professional services agreement with LAN Engineering for phase 2 of the Wastewater Management Plan; and an amendment to the city’s fee schedule to include farmer’s market activities.