Before her death in 2012, Velma Cubbison, a Coolville woman, wanted to donate her six acres of forest and one acre of land with a creek near Wildman Rd. to the county, so she put it in her will.
Fast forward a year, the land is valued at approximately $13,720 and the Athens County Commissioners are unsure whether they want to accept the land.
Before accepting the land, Commissioner Lenny Eliason said they must verify the ownership of the property.
“If we want to go through with accepting this, we need to do a title search,” Eliason said, adding that the land would also have to be inspected before they could vote on accepting it.
Commissioner Chris Chmiel said if they choose to accept the property, he would want the money from the land to could go toward the Capital Improvement Fund, which would go toward county facilities planning.
However, Eliason said if the commissioners choose to accept this property and not properties offered in the future, then unequal treatment lawsuits may be brought against the county.
Chmiel agreed, but said he plans to speak to Athens County Prosecutor Keller Blackburn about the possibility of lawsuits.
“Is (a lawsuit) really something we have to be worried about?” Chmiel said. “I wouldn’t want to accept this gift and have it come back to hurt us.”
Eliason added that he is against accepting the property for the sole reason of selling it, because it would not directly benefit Athens County citizens.
“I’m not in favor of accepting property without a public purpose,” he said. “I’m not in favor of acquiring land just for the purpose of gaining capital.”
Commissioner Charlie Adkins said he had other purposes in mind for the land if the commissioners accept it and decide not to sell immediately.
“We need to keep all the properties we can on our tax base,” Adkins said. “For the long term, that’s best. If someone wanted to lease (the land) in the meantime for hunting or something, I could see that too.”
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