County to negotiate land buy in Troy

The Lincoln County Commissioners on Wednesday unanimously voted to move forward with the process to purchase a Troy property for the county road department.

The purchase, which has been in the works for several weeks, involves a half-acre piece of property next to the county road department facility in Troy. The measure passed on Wednesday means the commissioners can approach the Troy property owner and begin negotiating a price. The property has already been appraised at $65,000.

Commissioner Greg Larson said the current property is too small to fit the road department’s needs. The Troy road department property is about a .5-acre parcel, while the other parcels are much bigger – the Eureka parcel is about 30 acres.

“It’s pretty crowded over there,” Larson said. “I support purchasing the property because it’s the last property they can expand into and it was in their budget.”

While the intent to purchase property has been in the public realm for several weeks, the county commissioners have in that same time been whittling down funding requests from county departments for the upcoming county budget. Commissioners Mark Peck and Mike Cole said that recent budget meetings have underlined the need to tighten budgets to each department and wondered if purchasing property was the best use for the appropriations made to the road department.

Cole asked whether the need to expand was a sufficient reason to spend the money on an expansion. While the Libby county road department facility is much bigger, it also contains equipment from the sheriff’s department and emergency medical services department, Peck said.

Larson reiterated that the road department can afford the parcel, assuming the budget funds requested by the department pass at a similar quantity as last year’s road department budget.

“Once we approve the budget, are we going to micromanage the department’s budget?” Larson said. “I don’t think one end of the county should get all the money and one side doesn’t. Money is tight, I agree, but this is a need.”

Peck agreed, adding that the property, which is the only available property adjacent to the road department, might not be available forever.

“I support moving forward,” Peck said. “I’m afraid if we don’t we’ll keep dilly-dallying around here and if we lose it, there won’t be another one.”

The commissioners unanimously voted 3-0 to proceed with the process and approach the land owner about price negotiations, with a call from commissioners for Troy Road Department Foreman Dave Kyriss to produce a plan outlining the needs for expansion.

After the commissioners and the owner come to a price agreement, the commissioners will hold a special public comment period on the purchase before the final vote on the purchase.

Reporter Seaborn Larson may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at slarson@dailyinterlake.com.