PRAIRIE CITY – The Bates Park and Museum Foundation plans to sell the old Bates mill property directly to the Oregon State Parks Department, rather than quitclaim the deed to Grant County.

Foundation officials made that decision last week after meeting with people who had lived in the now defunct mill town of Bates.

John Bastian, Foundation president, said that any profits from the sale to the state would be used in two ways: to compensate the county for its costs in the development of the land deal, and to help with projects in the new state campground and park.

Grant County Judge Mark Webb had asked the Foundation to turn the property over to the county to handle the sale to OPRD.

The state proposes to pay $450,000 or $500,000 for the site, the final price depending on whether the old dry kiln is demolished and removed.

Either price will cover the repayment of the $400,000 note used to purchase the property, with some funds left over after costs. The Foundation bought the land, and the county guaranteed the loan, which comes due in December.

Webb said in a County Court meeting two weeks ago that the county guarantee was based on an agreement that the county would have the option to buy the property from the Foundation, and that the transfer of title was the intent of the court.

However, Bastian said the option would kick in only if the Foundation defaulted on the loan.

Webb also contends that the county is entitled to any profits from the sale because it assumed the risk in the deal. It also had costs related to the property, and will forgo property taxes when the land goes off the tax rolls, he said.

However, Foundation officials felt that after compensating the county for any hard costs, the remaining money from the sale should go to help develop the park or a museum on the site. Bastian said that although the OPRD has funds to develop the campground, it relies on citizen groups to help raise money for amenities beyond the basic park structures.

They cited a letter from Ronald S. Yockim, a Roseburg attorney who represents the county, that described a scenario for a “simultaneous closing” to finalize the deal.

Yockim since then has withdrawn from advising either the Foundation or the county in the Bates matter.

However, in the Feb. 29 letter, he said the Foundation could deposit a deed to Grant County and Grant County would deposit a deed to OPRD in the closing escrow, and both parties would direct the escrow agent on how to disburse any proceeds.

“This would not be a difficult transaction,” he wrote.

Yockim also said that while there may not be much money left, he felt that any money left over should be retained for use at the park “in case there is some gap in state funding.”

Meeting with about a dozen Bates community members in Prairie City last week, the Foundation asked for a ballot on three options:

? Get ownership into the hands of the state as soon as possible – “I do not care what happens to the surplus funds.”

? Protect the surplus funds to meet future Bates project needs while getting owners to the state as soon as possible.

? Undecided.

The tally, with one exception, favored the second option, which board members felt was best accomplished by the simultaneous closing.

One person in the crowd expressed concern that the Foundation was being run by people who weren’t from the Bates community.

Bastian said the Foundation’s current board of directors would step aside after the park deal is completed. He said he hoped the Foundation would become a “friends of the park” organization that would be run by the Bates people.

Bastian formerly owned property in the Bates area, but is not a former milltown resident. He and Dennis Reynolds, former county judge, have spearheaded the Foundation’s effort to preserve the site.

Reynolds outlined the history of that effort and stressed that there was no intent to profit personally from the deal.

“You’re being told that this is some sort of illlicit plan, of Dennis Reynolds in particular,” he said, adding that such talk makes him angry.

Reynolds said it would have been easier for him to drop the project than to push through all the challenges.