Background
In December 2012, the Department of Public Utilities, Division of Sewerage and Drainage entered into the fifth and final one-year renewal of a Farmland Lease Agreement with Mr. Jeffrey L. Writsel for the purpose of farming the land owned by the City of Columbus and utilized as the Southerly Wastewater Treatment Plant (SWTP) located approximately 1/2 mile south of State Route 665, between State Route 104 and US Route 23. The lease consists of multiple fields totaling approximately 311.50 acres of City-owned land surrounding the STWP that is tillable as cropland. The lease of the land was awarded to Mr. Writsel as a result of a bid issued in 2008 for the lease of the tillable land for agricultural purposes for a five year period. The current Farmland Lease Agreement between Mr. Writsel and the City expires on December 31, 2013.
The Department of Finance and Management, through its Real Estate Management Office (REMO) is responsible for the leasing of City property used in operations. As such, the leasing of this City-owned land for farmland was transitioned to REMO during August - September of this year. Due to the nature of the farming business, the June - July time period is the optimal time of the year for advertising farmland for lease for the next agricultural season in order to achieve the highest number of responses and therefore the highest lease rate. As a result of the timing of the transition of the responsibility for administering the lease of this land for agricultural use, the optimal time period to publish a public notice to advertise this land for lease via the bid process for the 2014 agricultural season had passed. In order to achieve the best result from a public bid for the lease of this farmland, REMO and the Division of Sewerage and Drainage have agreed that the best course of action is to extend the term of the current lease with Mr. Writsel for one additional farming season at the same rent and to issue a bid for the lease of t...
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