Cleburne building transfer snafu

The transfer of property from the Cleburne County Commission to the Counties School board has hit a snag after an attorney discovered the county did not own the property.  The Cleburne County Commission approved transferring the old Emergency Management Agency building on Davenport Drive to the Board of Education during their June  meeting with the stipulation that the board handle all the legal work associated with the transfer.  The school board hired Birmingham attorney Charles Beavers to do the title search on the property and discovered the county did not own the building.  County property records show that the Farmers Market Authority, a state agency that promotes and advocates for farmers markets and direct market farmers, has owned the property since 1981.  The 6.5 acre property had been used in the 1980s as a farmers market.  The state agency has been the target of drastic budget cuts over the last several years. It has gotten to the point that the agency can no longer continue to serve its clients well. So, the agency is being absorbed into the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries as of Aug. 1st.  Cleburne County transferred the property to the authority as part of a standard lease agreement in 1981.  The authority deeded the property back to the county in 2008, but the county never recorded the deed.

The school board plans to make the building their new central office.