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.
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