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Supervisors debate local law to allow privately negotiated sales, say it could speed easements
Summary
County staff described a proposed local law that would let the county sell or lease property via privately negotiated transactions rather than always using competitive public bidding; supporters called it a needed tool for timely easements and economic development, while others urged sending the measure back to committee over long-term authority concerns.
County staff and supervisors spent substantial time discussing a proposed local law designed to give Livingston County flexibility to sell or lease county-owned real property through privately negotiated transactions rather than always using a highest-bidder public-advertising process.
County staffer Shane Hillier explained the legal distinction turns on how title was acquired: parcels obtained through tax foreclosure allow different options than parcels the county acquired by gift or purchase. Hillier singled out easements as a common case where the competitive-bidding and public-advertising process can be cumbersome, saying past local laws to accommodate specific projects (including an easement for the town of Geneseo) required additional steps such as a permissive referendum and added months to the timetable.
Supporters of the draft local law said it would preserve safeguards — including the requirement that the board ultimately approve any conveyance — while allowing staff and elected officials to act more quickly for narrow transactions such as easements or time-sensitive economic-development projects. One supervisor said: "I do support it because I know how bogged down you can get," and cited the need to avoid 45–90 day delays in some cases.
Opponents cautioned that local laws create standing authority for future boards and argued the proposed law’s structure could give later boards broad discretion. "Do we really know how this can be used in 10 or 20 years?" asked one supervisor, urging the board to return the measure to committee for more precise drafting.
The board kept the public hearing open on this proposed local law and directed that committee review take place; no final vote on the measure was recorded in the meeting minutes.
