Commissioners approve transfer of long-delinquent tax-sale parcels to sanitary district and parks

The county commissioners approved two resolutions on routine consent to transfer tax-sale parcels to the Terre Haute Sanitary District and to the Beagle County Parks Department. Alex Powell, the county’s tax sales specialist, told the commissioners the parcels had been listed at previous sales dating back to February 2006 and that the parcels are largely unusable for private development.

"I am Alex Powell. I am the tax sales specialist," Powell said, describing several parcels he recommended for transfer. Powell said some parcels lie within a ditch and flood outflow system near 16th to 17th Street, and that the sanitary district already owns surrounding property, which prevents it from accessing its parcels until these lots are added to its holdings.

The commissioners approved resolution 2025-2 to transfer the identified parcels to the Terre Haute Sanitary District and resolution 2025-3 to transfer other parcels to the Beagle County Parks Department. The meeting record shows the motions and seconds and the board’s verbal approval, recorded as "Aye," but does not record an individual roll-call vote.

Powell told the commissioners the sanitary district’s board has voted to accept the parcels and the parks department has likewise voted to take the parcels, but he said he did not have paperwork with him at the meeting. He described the transfers as cleanup of properties that are "basically useless" for private use and as enabling the sanitary district to access adjacent lots it already owns.

The transfers were presented during the commissioners’ regular meeting and enacted by resolution on the consent agenda. The record does not show further public comment on the parcels or any conditions placed on the transfers.