By Charlotte Underwood 

JACKSBORO, TN (WLAF) – Other business discussed at Monday’s County Commission workshop was regarding a notice of intent to renew the lease of a building owned by the county and leased to A&B Holdings.

The original lease agreement dates back to 1995 and is to be renewed every 30 years. The lease agreement requires A&B Holdings to inform the commission of its intent to renew the lease one year in advance. 

The building is located up behind the mine safety building, according to Commissioner Rusty Orick.

According to County Attorney Joe Coker, the lease is for an additional 30 year period. The lease expires in January 2025.

Commissioners said they needed more information on this before voting to renew the lease and decided to put it “on hold”, rather than vote on it at next week’s meeting. 

According to County Vice Mayor Randy Brown, he said he “believes BSH is leasing the building from A&B Holdings through a sublease, but the county owns the building and the 8.79 acres around it. 

“From what I know, BSH is using that building for their research and development,” Brown said.

Commissioner Rusty Orick suggested to the county commission to “read the lease agreement and keep in mind, there is somebody working people down there.”

Commissioner Scott Stanfield said he thought the county was trying to “get out of the building business and that he would be in favor of having it appraised and sold.”

Commissioner Orick said he thought the commission needed to go back and look at what agreements were made back in 1995 to see what was going on with the lease.

Commissioner Goat Baird and others agreed.

“We need to have a meeting with our county attorney and let him do some research and do this right,” Orick said.

Chairman Johnny Bruce said he would also talk to budget analyst Richard Terry about what money came into the county from the lease of the building. 

Commissioners decided the issue should go to a committee for further discussion.

Which committee the lease agreement renewal goes to for further discussion is at the discretion of the commission chair.  Johnny Bruce said he would decide what committee it needs to go to and announce it at a later date. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED – 12/12/2023-6AM)

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