 Reply all   Delete  Junk Block  Farmer appraisal LZ Les Zaitz Fri 12/6/2019 6:02 AM Dan Joyce ; Stephanie Williams ; Pat C Judge Joyce, The appraisal regarding the Farmer provided to the county raises key questions. We obtained the document from state officials since the county would not produce the record. 1. The appraisal was completed Oct. 31, 2019. In response to a public records request, you said through Kim Ross that as of Tuesday, Dec. 3, the county court did not have a copy of the appraisal. a. When were you told the result of the appraisal and by whom? b. Has you reviewed or read a copy of the appraisal? If so, when? 2. The appraisal values the entire Farmer property, including water rights, at $2,050,000. You have voted to pay the seller $3,019,000 for this property. a. What is the explanation for why local government will pay $1 million more for property than it has been valued at? b. What should the public understand about your decision to pay to pay nearly 50% more than the land value? 3. The appraisal reports: "The sellers are retaining a 5 acre parcel (not yet determined) of industrial zoned land from the subject property." It is vital the public understand what the county intends and the language can be read to mean the county will buy all the property and then give back five acres to the seller at no cost. a. When did the county agree to this arrangement? b. Since the sales agreement covers the county's purchase of the entire property, this statement in the appraisal indicates the county will give back to the sellers 5 acres. Does that mean the county will give that 5 acres at no cost or is there a separate re-sale agreement to sell back the 5 acres? If so, under what terms? There developing significant questions about the county's role in the real estate matters. The Enterprise provided you written questions on Nov. 1 regarding these vary matters and you elected not to respond. I encourage you to address these and other matters so we can include your statements in a report we will publish early next week. You can anticipate additional questions and public records requests. An alternative would be for you to sit down with the Enterprise for an on-the-record interview to go over these matters but that would have to be soon. We look forward to your response. Les Zaitz, editor and publisher Malheur Enterprise office: (541) 473-3377