The Cole County Commission has been discussing selling some county-owned property deemed no longer necessary, including Renns Lake, since February.
At Tuesday's meeting, county commissioners agreed to table the issue for another two weeks to allow time to contact landowners around the lake about interest in buying the property.
Eastern District Commissioner Jeff Hoelscher has pointed out no one on the current commission voted for the measure to take ownership of the lake in 2009. He reiterated that he would like to give property owners around the lake the first chance to buy it.
"The county took their property and lowered the owners' property values by breaching the dam," Hoelscher said. "A developer could probably put three homes on the lake property. Just get rid of it. I know public works isn't fighting to keep it."
Western District Commissioner Kris Scheperle said he has been wanting to sell the lake as well as a lot adjacent to the roundabout at Big Horn Drive, along with two Osage City lots, not adjacent to each other. Those were lots the county obtained through past court actions.
Scheperle said he wants to get rid of the properties so the county will not have to continue maintaining them, and Hoelscher and Presiding Commissioner Sam Bushman agreed that the properties should be sold.
Renns Lake has long been a point of contention. In October 2009, heavy rain compromised a 30-foot stretch of the dam. To prevent a dam collapse, emergency crews and landowners spent several days pumping water out of the lake to ease pressure on the dam.
Lake owner Patricia Renn didn't have the money to repair the dam, so her family deeded the property to the county. The county removed part of the dam to prevent the lake from building back up, which they feared could cause the dam to fail completely.
Residents tried unsuccessfully to form an association to take over the land from the county. Some landowners sued Renn in 2010, and that lawsuit is still pending.