Cheyenne Council Rejects Sale of Old Police Department to Diocese
After an hour-and-a-half debate Monday night, the Cheyenne City Council voted 6 to 4 to reject the sale of the former police department building to the Diocese of Cheyenne.
The Diocese, which was hoping to use the building for office space, had offered the city $1,090,000 for the property, but that offer was based on a 2013 appraisal of the property and about $80,000 less than the current appraised value.
"There was a second appraisal conducted in 2016," said Mayor Rick Kaysen. "That was brought forward after the offer from the Diocese."
Councilman Dr. Mark Rinne argued that the city should take other proposals before agreeing to the offer.
"I would rather see an RFP process," said Dr. Rinne. "If there are other buyers and developers out there that are interested, I'd like to at least know who they are and what they intend to do before we accept the first offer that comes along."
"It's been our practice in the past to put surplus property out for bid," added Councilman Dicky Shanor.
Council members Jim Brown and Jeff White also raised concerns about the purchase agreement, saying that the city should be selling surplus property as-is.
"The building does need an awful lot of work," said White. "I was a little concerned with some of the things that the city was on the hook for, such as a roof inspection."
"I don't have a problem with (having) $1,090,000 in hand and knowing it's a done deal," said Brown. "But after I read the offer to buy, that $1,090,000 could be reduced quite drastically by the Diocese if it decided there were some things they didn't like about the building."
"I hope that moving forward that the process can be a little bit more transparent," White added. "We couldn't ask for a better neighbor to have that property than the Diocese so I hope something gets worked out."
Council members Bryan Cook, Richard Johnson, Scott Roybal and Mayor Rick Kaysen voted in favor of the sale.