Let's hope a third try gets it done -- though there will be nothing charming about it -- and the county is finally able to get rid of a controversial Toppenish jail site that is mute testimonial to bureaucratic bungling. In case you've forgotten, and many people connected to the fiasco have tried, let's review: In 2003, the county paid $513,000 for what was a tract of farm land with an assessed value of $83,000. A current assessment puts value of the land, zoned industrial, closer to $250,000, which is still less than half what the county originally paid for it. Now the county wants to unload the property, currently leased for use as farm land, for $3,700 per year. Problem is, two previous bids to sell the property with minimum bids of $538,000 and an even higher $580,000 failed to draw any buyers. One would assume would-be buyers are better at math than the county officials who bought the parcel for six times what it was worth. So the land is back on the block Sept. 10, this time with a more realistic minimum bid of $200,000. Now let's identify the players and give credit -- or blame --where it's due. The two commissioners voting Tuesday to set the minimum $200,000 bid were Mike Leita and Rand Elliott, neither of whom was on the commission when the land was purchased. They replaced two who chose not to seek re-election -- Jim Lewis and Jesse Palacios -- and now they just want to clear the books, unload the property and move on. However, the lone remaining commissioner from that era, Ron Gamache, voted against the new minimum after his attempt to raise it to $249,000 was defeated by Leita and Elliott. Now Gamache worries about value? Where was that concern in 2003? But we've long wondered about the logic of Gamache on this issue. He has defended the new jail project, which was finally built at State Fair Park -- at half the capacity originally planned and over budget to boot -- as a "good deal" for the county. That led us to conclude if this was a good deal, please spare the taxpaying public a bad one. Gamache defended the Toppenish purchase again Tuesday, saying that at the time it appeared the needed water would be available. The commissioners only bought the property after a jail site selection committee recommended it, he said. Sorry, but defending the indefensible is a tough sell. In the final analysis, it was inexcusable negligence on the county's part to not nail down something as basic as adequate water rights for a project of that magnitude before shelling out more than a half million dollars. Water rights are, after all, a pretty standard consideration in these parts. So, by all means put the property on the auction block again. Cut the losses and bring this dark chapter in local government to a close so we can all move on. That would be a good deal.  * Members of the Yakima Herald-Republic editorial board are Michael Shepard, Sarah Jenkins, Bill Lee and Karen Troianello.   Let's hope a third try gets it done -- though there will be nothing charming about it -- and the county is finally able to get rid of a controversial Toppenish jail site that is mute testimonial to bureaucratic bungling. In case you've forgotten, and many Opinion, LOCAL

2008-07-22T01:17:11Z

2008-07-23T05:19:30Z

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County should shed proof of its folly in buying jail parcel 6057 county-should-shed-proof-of-its-folly-in-buying-jail-parcel Web Story

Yakima Herald-Republic

2008-07-23T05:53:09Z

6283291

07/23/08 Wed edit published Web Daily

2009-03-20T02:27:18Z