Commissioners representing Anderson County and the City of Garnett have agreed in principle to a plan that would dissolve the city’s existing land bank and create one at the county level, allowing the county as well as municipalities throughout the county, to seize and dispose of run-down properties with the aim of getting them redeveloped and back on the paying tax rolls. County Economic Development Director, Jessica Mills, says the land bank would be more effective and beneficial to individual communities if instituted at the county level, because it could provide an umbrella under which other municipalities in the county could operate. Anderson County Commission Chairman, Les McGhee told city commissioners and staff he believed the county would be on board as the umbrella land bank agency, as long as run-down properties were still mowed and maintained by the municipalities in which they were located.
Both city and county commissioners directed their legal counsels to develop an agreement for mutual approval.
