WINDSOR – A process that began in June finally came to a close last week as the Bertie County Commissioners accepted an offer for property located at 330 Governor’s Road.

The original offer for the property came from Raleigh Little of Bridgeport, CT. Little sent a letter to Bertie County Manager Zee Lamb offering $4,400 for the property. He included a check for $220 which covered five percent as earnest money.

In July, the board discussed the offer to purchase the parcel and heard from Tax Administrator Hosea Wilson that the actual investment by the county for that property was approximately $4,800.

Commissioner Norman M. Cherry Sr. moved to reject the original offer, but have Wilson contact Little and let him know the board would consider an offer of $4,800.  The motion was seconded by Commission Vice Chairman J. Wallace Perry and passed without objection.

Following the contact from Bertie County officials, Little upped his bid for the property to $4,800.

The new bid was considered by the board at their Aug. 1 meeting and accepted pending an upset bid process. Cherry made the motion to accept the bid, with Commissioner Charles Smith offering a second.

North Carolina law requires the property to be advertised for upset bid, allowing anyone else to offer more for the parcel.

The offer and acceptance were properly advertised by the county and Neira and Robert Fleming of Lewiston made an upset bid of $5,090.

During last week’s regular September meeting of the board, Lamb said the property had been advertised again with the new bid price. He said Little was made aware of the bid that had been made by the Flemings.

No upset bids were made following the advertisement of the second bid, leaving the commissioners able to finally dispose of the property.

Cherry said that since the requirements of the law were met, he wanted to move forward with the process of selling the parcel and made a motion to that effect. It was seconded by Smith and passed by a unanimous vote.

In other business, the board:

• heard more information on Voluntary Agriculture Districts;
• approved Lamb and Interim Emergency Management Coordinator Misty Deans to serve as agents for Hurricane Irene disaster recovery;
• awarded a bid for the 2008 Community Development Block Grant Water and Street improvement;
• appointed Mona E. Gilliam of Windsor to the Bertie County Joint Community Advisory committee;
• approved a resolution regarding the Request for Qualifications from architects on the Bertie High School project; and
• waived building inspection fees for Hurricane Irene survivors.