Supervisors approve agreement to list Makee Manor for sale; notified of resignation of Jan Heikes

The Allamakee County Board of Supervisors met in regular session Monday, December 2 to address a relatively short agenda. The two main agenda items were in regard to ongoing items previously discussed by the Board, with action now being taken on each of those items.

Prior to those regular business agenda items, under the Public Comment portion of the meeting, Mary Egan from the Allamakee County Case Management Office presented the Board with a letter of resignation from Jan Heikes, Central Point of Coordination (CPC) Administrator for Allamakee County Mental Health and Disabilities Services. Heikes has accepted a position with the Iowa Department of Human Services in the Community Services Bureau, with her resignation from her CPC Coordinator position effective December 27 of this year.

Board of Supervisors Chairperson Larry Schellhammer updated the Board on the proposed swapping of office locations between Allamakee County Veterans Affairs, which is located across First Avenue NW from the Allamakee County Courthouse, and the Iowa Department of Human Services (DHS), which is currently housed within the courthouse. After a site visit by DHS representatives last week and the suggestion that it would take approximately 60 days for the State of Iowa to facilitate the move, it was agreed upon that the swapping of office locations would be delayed until March of 2014 in order to avoid making the move during the winter weather months.

Following a pair of public hearings held during the Board's November 12 meeting, the Board approved an amendment to the County's zoning ordinance and a rezoning request, waiving the second and third readings of each before adopting both. The zoning ordinance amendment eliminates the building permit issuance fee currently in place in favor of a non-refundable building permit application fee payable at the time the application is submitted. The rezoning request was for property located at 923 and 925 Lansing Harpers Road from Rural Residential (R-1) to Low Density Residential (R-2) to allow for lots smaller than three acres due to two residences already existing at the property location.

The Board then met with Allamakee County Attorney Jill Kistler and Jack Sweeney of Sweeney Real Estate to move forward with items regarding listing for sale the Makee Manor real property. Throughout a nearly hour-long discussion involving those items, the Supervisors made and approved a series of three motions dealing with different aspects of that listing.

Some of the discussion involved questions raised by Kistler as to how a current prospective buyer could be held accountable for following through on an initial proposal in order for the County to avoid missing out on other potential offers, as well as the fairness of signing an exclusive listing of the Makee Manor real property with Sweeney Real Estate without offering that option to any other real estate agencies, Kistler saying she was “just playing devil’s advocate.”

Sweeney explained that Kistler’s concern of holding the current potential buyer’s “feet to the fire” could be addressed with a clause in the purchase agreement, and Kistler’s second concern was also reasoned through by the Board explaining that other real estate agencies still have the potential to secure the sale of the Makee Manor property through the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), with Supervisor Koenig further reasoning, “This process had to be started, and Jack started it. The rest of the folks will still have an opportunity to sell through MLS.”

The first of those motions was then made by Supervisor Sherry Strub to enter into an exclusive agreement with Jack Sweeney of Sweeney Real Estate to list the Makee Manor real property with the nationwide Multiple Listing Service network at a sale price of $100,000 and a sale commission of five percent. Following her own motion and a second by Supervisor Dennis Koenig, Strub then cast the lone vote in opposition of approving the motion, although it did carry following “aye” votes from both Schellhammer and Koenig.

The second motion dealt with the contingencies of the sale, based on what the Board of Supervisors would like to see as benefits to the County in regard to the sale. Among those contingencies was the purchaser needing to have a Business Plan approved by the Board, and that the County would have the first option for “buy-back” of the property in the event that the purchaser would need/want to sell the property. The motion also stated the listing with the Multiple Listing Service would remain effective until March 7, 2014, with all three Supervisors voting to approve that second motion.

The final motion regarding the matter gave authority to Schellhammer, as Board Chairperson, to sign both the exclusive listing agreement and a dual agency agreement with Sweeney based on approval of both contracts by County Attorney Kistler. The dual agency agreement allows Sweeney to represent both the County and the buyer in any sale negotiations.

Allamakee County Sheriff Clark Mellick, Allamakee County E-911 Coordinator Chris Fee, and Mike Gallagher and John Roe of the Allamakee County Courthouse custodial staff were also in attendance to discuss further issues regarding the Makee Manor property and a potential sale, among them the concerns of electricity used by those various departments to power their telephone and radio towers on the Makee Manor site. “One of our biggest concerns with the upcoming season of snow and ice is that our towers stay running,” Mellick said, with the Board assuring him that details with utilities and other issues will be discussed with any potential buyers during purchase negotiations.