Port of Allyn to meet about Allyn Carey water system

The Port of Allyn was set to vote on the final draft of a purchase and sale agreement for the Allyn Carey water system at a Wednesday special meeting occurring after the Herald’s deadline.

Commissioners called a special meeting Nov. 27 to hammer out details of the proposed contract with Jeff Carey’s attorney and the port’s legal team.

The port is hoping to use grant money to acquire Carey’s system, including the well and surrounding lots.

“A number of moving parts remain,” said port attorney Peter Fraley, of Ogden Murphy Wallace.

The property requires a completed boundary line adjustment and a vacation of an alleyway so that it’s a complete piece, Fraley told the commissioners.

The port also needs to review all the contracts and easements currently in effect, which hasn’t happened yet, he said. Closing can’t happen until these contingencies are completed, according to Fraley.

“The port is acquiring the assets, it’s not acquiring the business,” Fraley said.

Carey was hoping to close the sale by Jan. 3.

Fraley said that seemed “overly optimistic.”

The alley vacation approval from Mason County could take a few months. Before closing, “a lot of work needs to be done,” Fraley said.

Bob Houle, Carey’s attorney, disagreed.

Houle said they would “have the language” of the boundary line adjustment at closing, but approval from the county could take 120 days, and isn’t needed to close the sale.

Fraley again disagreed, saying the assessor and auditor won’t accept the legal description of the property without county approval of the vacated alley.

“I just want to make sure we’re doing things right,” Commissioner Judy Scott said, as the attorneys tried to find a compromise.

Fraley eventually proposed a “two-step” property acquisition, where the port would buy four lots that have the well and do not need an alley vacation and the other two lots would be added later. A holdback of money would be transferred to Carey upon completion of the boundary line adjustment and conveyance of the two remaining lots.

Both sides agreed to draft a new contract with the revisions. The port was set to vote on the finalized contract, in addition to a proposed budget, Wednesday, Nov. 29 at a special meeting at the port office in Allyn.