Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Old GHS property - Who owns it?

A fine of $250 per day could soon be assessed to the owner of the property that once housed Gurdon High School. No one is currently claiming the property that has recently been condemned by the Gurdon City Council.

The old high school building, located on Third Street, was one of nine properties condemned by the council on May 21. The city is implementing a new ordinance that allows for the clean up of abandoned or dilapidated properties that pose a risk to the public health and safety. According to the ordinance, the city may ultimately remove the nuisance properties without the owners consent and then sell the property to recover money expended in the clean-up. The city may also place a lien on the property to recoup the expenses.

Before any of those actions can take place, the ordinance states that the owner of the property must be sent, via certified letter, a copy of the resolution condemning the property. If the owner is not known, a copy of the resolution may be posted on a "conspicuous place" on the property, and that will serve as sufficient notice, according to the ordinance.

Gurdon Recorder/Treasurer Tambra Childres said that the city sent certified letters containing copies of the condemnation resolutions to the owners of record of each condemned property. The owners were found by researching property records at the Clark County Courthouse, Childres said.

In the case of the old high school property, Childres said the certified letter and resolution were sent to the Gurdon School District.

Gurdon School District Superintendent Bobby Smithson said the district is not the owner of the property despite what courthouse records indicate.

"We gave all of the deeds we had to Mike McKenzie when we sold the property," Smithson said.

Smithson said the district sold the property to McKenzie five to seven years ago for $25,000. McKenzie apparently never filed the deeds to the property to have it officially transferred into his name.

When contacted on Friday, May 25, McKenzie acknowledged that he had purchased the property from the district and had operated his business at the old school for a period of time. The business moved out after the gymnasium burned.

"If it was up to me, Id of torn it down a long time ago," McKenzie said.

One reason McKenzie cited as to why he never filed the deeds in his name is that a title company told him the deeds were too old to file.

Tom Calhoun, owner of Pioneer Abstract in Arkadelphia, said he has never heard of a deed becoming too old.

"I dont know how one would get too old to file," he said. "A deed doesnt reach the point of being unfileable because of its age."

Calhoun said that old deeds are filed in courthouse records all of the time. He said, for example, that if a person gave another a deed to a piece of property in 1935 and the deed was never filed, it could still be filed today as long as the person who granted the deed was the legal owner of the property.

McKenzie said he has now donated the property to Mt. Canaan Baptist Church. He said the church should be able to obtain a deed in its name to have ownership of the property officially transferred.

The church, however, has not accepted the donation, according to Pastor Johnny Harris. The church had previously wanted to purchase the property, but because of the recent discovery of asbestos in the auditorium and other hazardous material threats, the church has decided to wait.

"Everybody wants it, but nobody wants it," Harris said. "Its really a big mess."

Harris said he thinks officials from the school district, the church, the city and McKenzie will have to sit down and sort out the issue.

The church has purchased property from McKenzie previously that was a part of the former school site. After McKenzie purchased the property from the school district the church purchased a piece of land, located at 410 S. Fifth St., to construct a new sanctuary.

Harris said they paid McKenzie for that property. However, because the land was still legally in the school districts name, the church had to hire and attorney and obtain a quiet title deed from the school.

Harris said the church paid some money down on the remainder of the old school property that has now been condemned before the major problems began to surface. The church is now holding off because of concerns that it would take too much money to clean the property up.

"We dont have anything in writing with Mike McKenzie," Harris said.