Phelps County Commission to accept bids for county-owned land
Wednesday, March 22, 2006 1:27 PM CST
The Phelps County Commission decided to accept bids for county owned land in Newburg and approved a grant written by the Phelps County Disaster Committee requesting funds from the State Emergency Management Agency at Tuesday’s meeting. The commission agreed to sell 17 parcels of land located in blocks seven and eight of Cave Street in Newburg and will accept bids for the land from the public at 10 a.m. April 11, at the Phelps County Courthouse. The acceptance of bids was requested by Newburg Community Coordinator Marvin Helms who is interested in purchasing some of the lots for the purpose of building a private residence. According to Phelps County Assessor Kevin Rasmussen, the county gained the rights to the land in the early 1980s when the county equalized property assessment values as mandated by the state. The land parcels are properties whose ownership was unable to be determined, and as a result the land fell into the hands of the county. Phelps County does not have deeds for the land and therefore does not necessarily “own” the lots. However, the county can sell its rights to the land and buyers can then establish a chain of title for the lots. The sale of the land parcels will benefit the county because the properties will be taxable under new ownership. Currently, the land parcels provide no tax revenue because they are unused and the rights to the land are owned by the county. “There is no benefit to the citizens,” said Bud Dean, Phelps County District 2 commissioner, regarding the county’s ownership of the land. “The county does not want to own property, it just takes money off the tax rolls.” Phelps County Presiding Commissioner Randy Verkamp agreed. “This is progress,” he said of the decision to sell the land parcels. “We’re anxious for this to happen.”
The commissioners also approved a grant written by the Phelps County Disaster Committee (PCDC) requesting funds from the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA). The PCDC was formed by several volunteer agencies to provide disaster assistance to individuals and families in Phelps County. The mission of the PCDC is to provide citizens and organizations in the county with the tools and training needed to respond to any type of disaster.
“The bottom line is if anyone was paying attention to Hurricane Katrina they should have learned that in the first 72-96 hours of a disaster we need to be prepared to protect our lives and property on our own,” PCDC President Edward J. “Buz” Harvey said. “Self reliance is the answer in the first few hours or days of a major disaster. We are trying to bring the public to the point where they can assist productively in the case of a disaster.”
In 1992, the PCDC was designated by SEMA as a Citizens Corps, qualifying the organization to submit proposals for federal grant money to carry out its mission. The PCDC is asking SEMA for money to fund six specific areas that the committee feels are important for disaster management: Fire protection, neighborhood watch groups, incident support through the American Red Cross, severe weather shelters established through the Salvation Army, tools and training for a Medical Reserve Corps, made up of local medical professionals and residents, and funding for support of the Citizens Corps to publicize the other five areas of disaster relief management.
Harvey said it is especially important for Phelps County to be prepared for an emergency because of the county’s location. Phelps County’s close proximity to Fort Leonard Wood, the Phelps County Regional Medical Center and UMR make it a likely location to shelter disaster victims from around the area. Harvey said the county needs to be ready to respond not only to disasters within the county, but to assist victims from surrounding areas.
“We are trying to build a seamless net of citizens in Phelps County so in the worse case scenario we can take care of each other,” Harvey said. “If we are successful, we will share our plan with other counties.”
Also at Tuesday’s meeting, the county commission was notified by letter from United States Cellular that the company will be building three new service towers in Phelps County and two new towers in Maries County.
The towers in Phelps County will be located at:
For more information regarding the sale of land parcels in Newburg, contact Phelps County Presiding Commissioner Randy Verkamp at 573-4586120. |