§ 15-4-212 - Sale of property.
15-4-212. Sale of property.
(a) The Arkansas Economic Development Council is empowered to sell, for cash, and upon compliance with the provisions of this act, all that property transferred to it under the provisions of this act.
(b) The council, through its chair and the Director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, shall certify to the Governor, in duplicate, its proposal for any such sale. The Governor, if he or she approves the proposal, shall endorse his or her approval upon both copies of the certificate and return one (1) copy thereof to the director, and he or she shall at the same time appoint a committee of appraisers to appraise the property, with notice thereof to the director. He or she may similarly fill any vacancy occurring on the committee.
(c) The committee shall consist of five (5) persons, each of whom is the owner of real property within the state. Before entering upon his or her respective duties, each member of the committee shall make and subscribe, in duplicate, an affidavit that he or she is not in any manner interested, either directly or indirectly, either in the sale or in the purchase of the property and that he or she will well and truly, according to the best of his or her ability, view and appraise the property.
(d) The members of the committee may receive expense reimbursement in accordance with 25-16-901 et seq.
(e) After each member of the committee has made his or her appraisal of the property, he or she shall append to each copy of his or her affidavit a statement of his or her appraisal over his or her signature. He or she shall deliver both copies of the affidavit, with the statement appended thereto, to the Governor. The Governor, if he or she continues to approve the proposed sale of the property, as so appraised, shall endorse his or her approval upon both copies of the affidavit and statement. He or she shall transmit one (1) copy to the director.
(f) Thereupon, the director shall give notice on behalf of the council of the terms of sale by publication in one (1) newspaper regularly published in Little Rock and having a general circulation in the State of Arkansas, by four (4) weekly insertions therein. The notice shall specify a time and place for the receipt by the council of sealed bids for the purchase of the property. The specified time shall be not less than thirty (30) days from and after the date of the first insertion.
(g) Each bid shall be accompanied by a bank officer's check, payable to the order of the council, in an amount equal to one-tenth (1/10) of the bid. The proceeds of the check of the successful bidder, if he or she makes the balance of his or her bid good, shall be credited upon his or her bid. If he or she fails to make the balance good, the proceeds shall be retained by the council as liquidated damages on account of such a failure. The check of each unsuccessful bidder shall be returned to him or her upon the final acceptance of the successful bid.
(h) The council, at the time and place specified in the notice, subject to its adjournment by announcement then and there to some other time or place, shall open the bids which shall have been received. The council shall proceed to accept that bid which, in its best judgment, shall tend most to the industrial development of the state. No such sale, however, shall be had otherwise than for cash, nor for less than the amount of the appraisal. Provided further, no such bid shall be accepted unless and until approved by the Governor.
(i) (1) Upon receipt from the successful bidder of the full amount of his or her bid, the council, acting through the chair and the director, shall execute and deliver its deed conveying the property to the purchaser and shall certify a copy of the deed to the Governor. The deed shall recite in detail the compliance with the respective provisions of this act. The recital shall be prima facie evidence of the facts so set forth.
(2) The deed need not be acknowledged to entitle it to record. The effect of the deed, the provisions of this act having been substantially complied with in the sale, shall be to vest the purchaser with all of the right, title, and interest of the council and of the State of Arkansas, at law and in equity, in and to the property.
(j) The proceeds of the sale, including any liquidated damages as provided in subsection (g) of this section, upon receipt thereof, shall be deposited in the Arkansas Industrial Development Revolving Fund [INACTIVE], which is created and established in the State Treasury.