Commissioner: Leasing a better option than Mtn. Cove Farms sale

Walker County is facing a massive debt and some believe that selling county assets — like Mountain Cove Farms — would help.

During the Walker County commissioner’s meeting on Thursday, Aug. 10, Commissioner Shannon Whitfield was asked if selling these types of assets would be feasible.

Whitfield said the county does have some property it is looking to sell, but Mountain Cove Farms would be a challenge to sell as there is a $15.3 million lien placed against the property.

“That property was free and clear and they bonded and leveraged against it for $15.3 million. So, the property is probably worth half of that, because there are other properties leveraged against that like our Civic Center and Ag center. They were all leveraged into that.

Whitfield said — even if the county had a prospective buyer who wanted to give top value for the property — the county would have to go to the bonding company and offer the money to get the property released, but when the bonding company looks at the balance sheet, the bonding will say it has gotten worse.

“They may or may not be willing to release that property. I am sure they will be willing to take the cash, but they may not release the collateral, which would kill the deal, or we would have to try to go find another lender to buy that bond out so we could pay it down and refinance it. So selling Mountain Cove Farms is not impossible, but it would be very, very tricky to do, very time consuming and probably somewhat expensive in dealing with bond attorneys,” Whitfield said.

The most viable option for Mountain Cove Farms, Whitfield said, would be to lease it out.

Before the calendar year end, Whitfield said the county is working on a proposal to send out to prospective leasers and see what they would use the property for and how much they are willing to pay to lease.

Whitfield said the right proposal would get Walker County out of operating the facility completely.

“Hopefully, in the next few months we will be able to release that and get all of the documents and everything we need and — hopefully — for 2018 be able to lease that facility out,” he said. “Because it’s still a money loser and a drain on the budget. We don’t need to be operating a retail facility as a county government. We need to get out of that business.”