Ever Get The Sense That Someone At City Hall Is Not Paying Attention At All?

Here's a real head scratcher.

There are three distinct properties (parcels) associated with the Columbia County Human Services Building at 325 Columbia Street, two of them being parking lots.  If you were to assume, as I did until recently, that all 3 parcels belong to Columbia County, you would be mistaken.  And forgiven.

Let's look at the 3 properties and their histories, thanks to public records on the Columbia County Real Property website. 

The county building, the sliver of land to its south along Prison Alley, and the parking lot to its west ending at N. 3rd Street are all part of one parcel known as 325 Columbia.  The City of Hudson sold this property to the county in 2005.  At the time, the parcel's so-called property classification was referred to as "vacant commercial," so I am assuming that the building did not exist then.

Rear parking lot and building, owned by
Columbia County (325 Columbia Street)

At the same time in 2005, the city also sold to the county the "vacant commercial" property across Columbia Street which now consists of a parking lot along Columbia Street, a lot above it along Long Alley, and a sad, ugly unforgivable metal staircase connecting the two.  This property is known as 344 Columbia Street.  It appears that the city got over $6.5 million in the deal for the two properties (don't quote me on that!).

1 of 2 parking lots across the street, part of one parcel
owned by Columbia County (344 Columbia Street)

What about the main parking lot directly in front of the building with at least 60 parking spaces where only county employees and visitors to the building are allowed to park?  Who owns that parcel known as 327 Columbia Street? 

60-space parking lot in front of the Human
Services building (327 Columbia Street)

In June of 2003, the City of Hudson purchased that parcel for $10,750 from someone by the name of Irene Flinton.  It was classified then as "vacant with improvements," and the records also indicate that the sale included "land and building."  20 years later, 327 Columbia Street is now classified as "vacant commercial," and the City of Hudson still owns the property. 

City-owned parking lot, controlled by the county, 
even at night when no parking is allowed

The city also owns the unimproved lot across 4th Street from the county office building at 410 State Street.  That lot is also used by county employees, but at least the city is trying to sell it (or at least talking about doing so) and get it developed into something more useful than a parking lot -- as well as back on the tax rolls.  Why have I never heard mention of 327 Columbia Street during recent efforts to sell city properties and talk of creating parking for a city that is in need of it?  Perhaps I missed mention of 327 Columbia?

This raises so many questions, doesn't it?

How does it benefit the City of Hudson to continue to own 327 Columbia if the only use of it is solely in the hands of the county government?  Why did the city sell only two of the three parcels to the county?  What kind of agreement is there between the city and the county in regard to that parking lot?  Who can get sued or be involved in legal trouble if something should happen in the lot, like someone getting run over by a car or even something as simple as someone tripping on a neglected, damaged stair?  Who maintains the lot, and who is responsible for it?  How much is the lot worth to the county?

Why the hell does the City of Hudson own 327 Columbia and why do we never hear anything out of City Hall about selling it or doing something with it that benefits us?  Columbia County doesn't want to purchase it from us?  Then how about we build a needed parking garage on the property for use by visitors and residents only?  Or are we are doing the county some sort of a "favor" by basically giving the lot to them?   For how many more decades?