Commissioner Thomas used a closing-minute statement at the Aug. 14 meeting to address recent Herald-Times coverage about residents who had occupied property later given to the Monroe County Nature Preserve trust.

Thomas said the trust instrument did not reference leases and that the county’s authority to develop the property as a nature preserve was limited by the terms of the trust and a judge’s earlier order. “The judge's order also said that the residents had to leave as soon as county began to develop the property as a recreational area and that this requirement had to be fulfilled for the trust to begin,” Thomas said. She said residents were informed earlier in the spring that development would trigger the trust conditions.

Thomas said leases on the property had been month-to-month for years and that the county did request that the judge’s order not allow exceptions; she criticized media coverage for omitting context. “Everything in the article was correct, but it just didn't tell the whole story,” Thomas said. She added that the county’s responsibility is to taxpayers and that the county could not use taxpayer funds to subsidize continued tenancy when the trust required development for the property to be vested to the county.

Why it matters: Thomas’ remarks explain the county’s view that the transfer of the property and related judicial order constrained options for long-term tenancy and required the county to move forward with preserve development to satisfy the trust’s terms. The board did not take any additional action on the matter during the meeting.

Public comment earlier in the meeting included a separate speaker, Carson Hendrickson, who asked for more time to vacate a residence he said he had occupied for nine years; the commissioners said they would take that request under advisement.