Council finalizes lot sale

McCOOK, Neb. -- The McCook City Council granted final approval to city staff Monday evening to sell a partial city lot, approximately 3500 square feet, to Mayor Mike Gonzales and his wife for $1,540. The property is just north of the recently completed parking lot at the McCook Public Library and directly south of the Gonzales home on Norris Avenue.

The item was presented on its third and final reading and approved on a 4-0 vote with Gonzales abstaining from voting.

The sale of the partial lot to Eugene Morris was brought before councilors earlier this month after Morris placed a $1,863 bid.

The Morris bid came just a few days after the Gonzales family had received second reading approval to purchase the property. Morris subsequently retracted his bid during a Dec. 1 meeting, leading to the purchase request from the Gonzales family returning this week on a third and final reading.

Steve Fritz of McCook attended Monday's meeting and spoke prior to the purchase receiving approval. Fritz is a former contracted trash hauler for the city who had a stormy relationship during his most recent tenure. Disagreements related to loading times at the transfer station, as well as the size of loads hauled and other topics, led to clashes with city staff and required police intervention on at least one occasion. Fritz's contract with the city was ultimately cancelled and city staff assumed trash hauling responsibilities themselves.

Fritz indicated Monday evening he didn't believe the purchase of the property by the Gonzales family had received adequate public notice.

Monday evening represented the fourth consecutive meeting the sale of the partial lot was scheduled for public discussion by City Council, which began when city staff received a formal request to purchase the property on Oct. 28, 2014, from the Gonzales family.

The procedure surrounding the sale of the Norris Avenue property mimicked what occurred when the city sold four lots neighboring Fair Acres Drive in April, although the Gonzales purchase has actually been presented before City Council several more times than either of those transactions were.

The Fair Acres lots were presented for City Council approval after city staff received formal requests from Robert and Sharon Harvey to purchase two city lots, followed by a request from Olvido Davila to purchase two others on the same block. Both families were looking to relocate mobile homes out of the West Q Village.

City Council suspended the three reading rule and approved the Harvey sale after two readings and suspended the rule and approved the Davila sale after only one reading.

The Gonzales family also paid the highest per square foot price of the three.

The Gonzales purchase of the 3,500 sq. ft. lot at $1,540 equates to 44 cents per sq. ft. The Harvey purchase of their approximate 17,800 sq. ft. Fair Acres property at $5,000 equates to 28 cents per square foot The Davila purchase of her approximate 14,300 -square-foot property at $4,500 breaks down to 31 cents per square foot, based on lot width and depth information on the Red Willow County Assessors website.