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County approves direct contracts for unsold Douglas-fir after July auction
Summary
After an unsuccessful auction for one Douglas-fir log sort, the board approved an order enabling direct negotiation and authorized contracts with timber purchasers who bid on other sorts.
Riley Baker, the county general services director, told the board on Aug. 13 that a July timber auction left one Douglas-fir sort unsold and the county needed to cut and remove those trees. Baker said the county had held the required auction but that the unsold timber could be treated as surplus and sold by negotiated contract if the board made specific findings first. Baker said Stimson Lumber agreed to take that unsold sort “for 94% of” the county’s minimum offer and that RSG and Hampton had purchased other sorts. The board adopted Order 54-2025 to make the findings necessary to treat the timber as surplus and to authorize negotiated contracts, then approved contracts listed as C115-2025 through C118-2025 and authorized signing of the contracts. The approvals were taken separately for each contract item by voice vote; the board answered “Aye” on each approval.
The nut graph: The board’s action lets staff dispose of an unsold Douglas-fir sort by negotiated sale rather than re-offering at auction, a course Baker said is allowable when timber must be removed and retaining it would not serve county needs.
Baker said the unsold lot was large trees and that some buyers declined because they were “overstocked” with that size. He described a direct negotiation option under state law for surplus county property that can be used to support economic development; the order adopted by the board records the findings the county must make to use that process. The board’s action authorizes the chair or an authorized official to sign the contracts with Stimson Lumber, RSG Forest Products and Hampton Tree Farm for the lots they purchased or agreed to take.
Board members confirmed individually on the record the separate contract approvals (C115-2025, C116-2025, C117-2025, C118-2025). No roll-call vote totals by name were recorded in the transcript; the minutes show each item passed on a voice vote with no recorded dissents. The county staff said most other sorts sold above the minimum asking price at the July 17 auction.
Ending: The contracts now move to signature and staff will proceed with cutting and removal as authorized under the order. The board scheduled no further public action on the unsold sort at the Aug. 13 session.
