At an April 6, 2016 meeting, the Northfield Township Board approved coupling the bids for the 8.2 and 15.3 acre Van Curler parcels. Town manager Fink explained that his attempt to lowball the 8.2 acres at $80,000 had been rejected, as had his $97,000 follow up offer. $100,000 was what they wanted, and by a fantastic coincidence, exactly what the Board had previously in an open meeting authorized Fink to offer.
According to Fink, accepting the $100,000 was tied to the $229,500 listed price of the 15.3 acres. It was an all or nothing, special deal just because they wanted it to go to the Township, Fink said.
Trustee Dockett said that the price collapse, from the guesstimated previous price of about $2 million for the same empty parcels, should make a buyer suspicious. Some of it was wetland, mucky. In addition to the cows Dockett mentioned at the previous meeting, a gas station and a dry cleaning plant had once occupied parts of the property. Supervisor Engstrom said the 70-90 day due diligence period would suffice to perform the environmental testing.
Dockett also complained that he hadn't been notified of this meeting until 9:30 am. He objected to Fink's 18 hour minimum legally required, stapled to the bulletin board version of public notice. As a Board Member he felt he deserved a phone call. Fink apologized with his usual things got away from me and we'll do better next time spiel.
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