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The city of Flint has agreed to sell its old Flint Police Training Academy for $500,000, and the new owners don't plan to use it for the same purpose.
The old training facility will be converted into a commercial marijuana grow facility.
According to MLive, the approval of the sale did not happen without a fight. The Flint City Council approved the sale to Evergrow LLC in a 5-4 vote on Monday, May 25. Protestors say the property was not properly advertised for sale, but the city's Department of Planning and Development denied those claims.
Council President Kate Fields said the sale was "absolutely fair and open bidding" and a "half-million dollars can do a lot for our city's general fund."
The following council members voted for the sale:
- Kate Fields - 4th Ward
- Santino Guerra - 3rd Ward
- Herbert Winfrey - 6th Ward
- Allan Griggs - 8th Ward
- Eva Worthing - 9th Ward
The following council members voted against the sale:
- Eric Mays - 1st Ward
- Maurice Davis - 2nd Ward
- Jerry Winfrey-Carter - 5th Ward
- Monica Galloway - 7th Ward
Mays said, "I just ain't cool with this process." He also asked the city attorneys for a legal opinion about whether the sale follows proper procedures for the disposal of city-owned property.
“There has been some back-door deals made,” Winfrey-Carter alleged.
The Department of Planning and Development officials said the property was listed for sale for seven days, and they received two offers, one from Evergrow for $500,000 and another for $20,000 from another group represented by Flint attorney Brenda Williams.
Williams said she represents a client who made the $20,000 bid. She noted that her client was also interested in turning the property into a marijuana grow facility. If the sale would have gone to her client, she stated that it would have been the first marijuana facility "of substantial nature" to be owned by a "local person of color in the city of Flint."