LULA — Lula City Attorney Lucky Chandler says the city has no option but to wait for the seller to work out issues with the title for the Lula Depot.
City Manager Dennis Bergin raised the issue during Monday night's council meeting, saying the city is getting a little concerned with the progress on the city's planned acquisition of the depot building, grounds and assets from the Lula Area Betterment Association, aka Lula Area Business Association.
Bergin asked if there's any advice Chandler can give to either party to help expedite the matter.
"I can give advice to the council," Chandler said. "I can't give advice to the LABA — they have their own attorney."
Bergin asked Chandler if there's anything he, as city attorney, can do to assist LABA's attorney for the benefit of the city.
"When I talked to Ms. Raines the last time, she knew the things that would have to be done in order to clear that title up," Chandler said. "I haven't heard from her, but I'm going to assume she's taken steps to try to address the questions that she and I both identified."
Bergin said with upcoming events planned at the facility people have asked whether the city or LABA is in charge, and he is telling them it's still LABA for now.
"The title is a real issue on that piece of real estate," Chandler said, noting if ownership documentation that would satisfy a title insurance firm can't be produced, LABA likely would need to pursue judicial assistance.
Asked by Councilman Garnett Smith how long the process might drag out, Chandler said, "I would not want to hazard a guess. I'll pick next year's Superbowl winner, but I wouldn't want to guess on this one."
