PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — During a recent municipal budget workshop, city officials were accused of being “unethical” by a city councilor who was upset over the recent handling of the sale of the former home to Cunningham Middle School property at the intersection of Blake and Third streets.
Midway through the evening on Dec. 5, as councilors discussed individual ideas on what they’d like to see kept in or cut from the budget, Councilor Bruce Sargent brought up the topic of the property sale which had been approved by all but him during the Council’s Dec. 3 meeting. Sargent questioned the way the sale was handled.
“Was it advertised in the newspaper?” asked Sargent.
“I don’t think it was, but it was on the agenda for three or four meetings,” said City Manager Jim Bennett, noting prior attempts to elicit proposals on the site had been made to no avail.
Bennett said it had been put on the agenda to go with a realtor, then the next month a realtor — ReMax — was selected.
“It went out to bid and ReMax was awarded the bid. We then went to the realtor and came up with an applicable listing price. That was brought to Council and you agreed on a listing price” of $79,900, said Bennett. He indicated the realtor sent forms out electronically and returned with an offer for the full asking price a short time later.
“I don’t think that’s the same — not being advertised. I’m not sure if it’s legal but it’s unethical if nothing else,” said Sargent.
Bennett said it was legal.
Sargent called it the “biggest mistake” he’d seen as a councilor. Bennett said if the bid had come in at $15,000 to $20,000 less, it would have been refused.
“The listing price was actually about $20,000 over what we thought we’d get,” said the city manager.
Sargent had indicated at the Dec. 3 meeting that he had an acquaintance in Caribou who already had blueprints for the site and would have been interested in purchasing the property, had he been aware it was for sale. Sargent indicated his friend’s plans included immediate development of the property, while the actual buyer didn’t appear to have any immediate plans.
“You did a disservice to the citizens. You’ll likely get $5,000 a year at best” in taxes, said Sargent.
“This was an inside sale. That’s not ethical,” Sargent continued.
Bennett responded by saying “we took baby steps and brought every step to Council.”
Councilor Peter Hallowell said, “I think it would have been much worse if done the way you wanted.” Sargent had suggested starting the bid process over to allow the Caribou party to participate.
“You had three people interested. It should have been tabled. As far as I’m concerned, we threw away $60,000. In my opinion, we dropped the ball,” said Sargent.
“You have to agree there’s still a possibility everything’s going to be OK,” said Councilor Randy Smith.
Bennett said no one on staff knew the man would be making an offer at full price and that it was “the realtor’s responsibility to bring us the offer at full price.”
Sargent said the Caribou man had planned to meet with Bennett but had been unable to because of an illness. Bennett noted while the appointment was made, the man never called to cancel.
“He’s built condos in this town, has blueprints and was ready to spend $3 million. But we threw it away,” said Sargent.
“He wanted to come talk about property but didn’t indicate what exactly it was,” said Bennett.
Council Chair Emily Smith said the bid process was followed.
“What’s the big panic to drop the gavel on property that’s been there 10 years. What was the rush to get it done that night?” asked Sargent.
“It’s a done deal, what we did Monday night,” said Councilor Craig Green.
“We worked on it for two years to try to sell this property and nothing happened,” added Randy Smith.
Sargent reiterated his stance on the matter.
“We dropped the ball. Here we are trying to scrape $5,000 here, $3,000 there,” said Sargent.
Sale of the Cunningham property to CSP, LLC, which is owned by Michael and Carol MacPherson of Presque Isle, was approved by a vote of 6-1 during the Dec. 3 meeting. No plans have been publicly expressed for the site.
There is no Caribou Councilor involved in this matter it is all Presque Isle. The Caption is incorrect and needs to be corrected.
It’s far, far away up in North Maine, so BDN doesn’t really care.
The councilors are Presque Isle and the only reference to Caribou is who they are arguing about. Please correct headline of this story for there are people who will be very confused more than normal. Thanks.
Thank you. I was confused. I actually read it twice wondering what I was missing? Where was the editor on this one? Quite funny – go through all of the trouble to quote people and what they said but get the town wrong. LOL!
Editor? … LOL !
thanks for the corrections lol it saved me doing it.
sounds like someone is mad beccause his buddy didnt get the land for next to nothing to build condos of all things. “He’s built condos in this town, has blueprints and was ready to spend $3 million. But we threw it away,” said Sargent. LOL thats just what Presque isle needs. Unemployment is high and many apts sit empty because people cant afford the rent. I suppose he could have sectioned 8 the condos and got 3x the rent value. Too bad for him, not.
I’ve got news for you, section 8 doesn’t pay three times the going rate for an apartment. We have some and we get the HUD fair market rent rate, look it up it isn’t a very high rent condo’s would be much more lucrative.
Hmmm someone I know has the government paying nearly 800 a month for her aprtment which for this area is way to high. enjoy your government paychecks.
Sounds like a three bedroom rate, this would have heat and lights included. That is below the average market rent in Aroostook County. Using HUD FMR chart if the tenant pays for either lights or heat there is anywhere from $50 to $175 taken off of the rent as a utility allowance.
Section 8 follows the market in the area, most of the time.
If you really want to triple your money with that type of housing try
building some “low income housing”.
You can get $250,000 for a2bedroom apartment and the blessing of every
crying “equal opportunity group” around.
A dozen different agencies all involved , each getting a check.
Check out Milbridge and ” Mano a Mano” for some tips on skinning
the taxpayers.
Why does this headline say “Caribou councilor” when the article and story are all about something that happened in PRESQUE ISLE??
Geez.
Thank heavens the corruption of Gov’t begins in the towns and cities for groom some people for further political appointments. Kudos on asking the questions Bruce Sargent
I have no issue with any of this, Sargent seemed to be asking questions because his buddy didn’t get a chance to build it. They found a realitor, had an asking price which Sargent agreed to, then had an offer and they took it.
I was thinking about this …. Why did Sargent’s buddy just not buy it through the realty listing as did the purchaser. If he had the money and was ready to go he got the same opportunity as did anyone else and could have made his bid and purchased. Seems that is the answer here not all this he said she said garbage. All I see this doing for Mr. Sargent is showing he can be underhanded apparently and I wonder maybe the citizens of PI think about this man on their council. Sounds to me like a guy that is willing to turn a blind eye and make back door deals for not necessarily the good oh his community as stated in his oath. One just need to sit back, listen and watch a man to learn of his true character because eventually something like this comes out of their very words. We all need to pay attention from the city to federal level of what is going on as that is 98% of the problem we are into with today’s financial problems we all face.
inside sale to the wrong insider?
The municipality has about three things they can do with surplus property. Retain it, put it out to bid or sell it through a Realtor which they must factor in their commission. The tholught that this may have been done incorrectly just doesn’t fit here. in the future if you want to make sure everyone has an opportunity extend the period for the public to bid. As far as someone having an interest and wanting to talk to the city manager about it they should have. If you snooze you lose.
Thanks for correcting headline.