The city of Mount Airy is seeking to sell a small parcel of property it owns, but some officials believe an “upset bid” process now under way is unnecessary.

It took the city commissioners three votes last week to decide to put out for upset bids the land in question on Andover Street, located off Worth Street. This led to an advertisement being published Wednesday in the local newspaper at a cost of around $112, giving potential buyers 10 days to submit an offer for the property.

That action was triggered on Aug. 2 when a formal proposal to buy the site was made by a real estate firm in Pennsylvania. K&L Real Estate Investments of Manheim, Pa., said it would pay $1,500 for the 25-by-125-foot tract that has an assessed value of $2,400 for tax purposes.

K&L already owns property at 909 Andover St. and 329 Worth St.

“This is just a small sliver of property,” City Manager Barbara Jones said. She added that it’s her understanding the real estate firm wants to purchase and possibly subdivide the acreage, which then would be taxed at its $2,400 valuation.

The numbers, being what they are, sparked a disagreement among the commissioners about whether they should accept the offer outright or allow other members of the public a chance to bid on the site.

“I don’t know why we’re going to spend all this time and money for such a small transaction,” said Teresa Lewis, a longtime member of the local business community. “If we were talking about $15,000, it would be different.”

However, other commissioners said that for the sake of openness and other factors, citizens at large should be given an opportunity to buy the property.

Commissioner Jon Cawley said most people probably don’t even know the municipality owns the property involved and shouldn’t be shut out of the process. “I would not mind us selling that,” he said of the land. “I do think it would be good to allow some time for an upset bid.”

Cawley said he doesn’t like the idea of selling public property without notice.

Steve Yokeley, a fellow board member, said adjoining property owners especially should be given a chance to acquire the site, even though they might not have a compelling need for it compared to the real estate firm.

“I would be in favor of us having an upset-bid process,” Yokeley said of the property. “I don’t think it’s doing the city any good.”

Lewis maintained that simply selling the land and avoiding all the bureaucratic entanglements was the way to go. “We’re not getting any revenue off it right now,” she said of the municipal-owned parcel while trying to reason with others on the board.

“We’ve got an offer.”

The board did vote 3-2 to accept the Pennsylvania firm’s bid, but that fell short of the four-fifths majority needed to authorize the sale.

After exploring other options for disposing of the land, the board eventually voted 3-2 to declare the site surplus property and allow others to submit upset bids above the $1,500 offer that’s on the table.

Under state law, any person wanting to raise the stated bid can do so by increasing that amount by at least 10 percent of the first $1,000 involved and 5 percent of the remainder. A prospective buyer also must make a deposit of at least 5 percent of the increased bid to the city clerk at the Municipal Building.

In the past, Mount Airy officials employed the upset-bid procedure to sell city-owned property on Cherry Street near Reeves Community Center.

Contact Tom Joyce at tjoyce@mtairynews.com or at 719-1924.