From now on, the Jefferson City Parks, Recreation and Forestry Department will not be allowed to title properties in its name.
Last week, the city's Parks and Recreation Commission learned it cannot own land under state law, even though almost 25 properties are titled under the Parks Department, Parks Commission and the old advisory Parks Board, according to parcel records from Cole County.
While state law does not specify whether the commission or department can own property, it states the city can own property, Jefferson City Counselor Ryan Moehlman said. Since the Parks Department is a subset of the city, he said the city should be the official owner of the properties.
"There's nothing in state law that says Parks Commission or Parks Department can't own property, but they aren't given specific authority to own property," Moehlman said. "There is a lack of authority for the department or Parks Commission as currently constituted (in state law) to own property independent of the city."
As the Parks Department is a subset of the city, state law gives the city itself authority to hold a land title, he said.
"Any property that is dedicated for parks use, the title holder of the property is the City of Jefferson," Moehlman said.
According to the city charter, the Parks and Recreation Commission "may purchase or otherwise secure ground to be used for parks."
Moehlman said he thinks the charter gives the Parks Department the authority to spend money from the parks sales tax on parks land, but it does not give the department the authority to be the title holder. The Parks Commission can use any money appropriated to parks to purchase land, though - just not parks sales tax money.
The city will not re-title the deeds that currently list the Parks Department, Parks and Recreation Commission or Parks Board as title holder, Moehlman said.
"It's just when you have to go and dispose of the property in some way, you know who the appropriate party is, the party that is authorized to make dispositions of properties," he said. "I don't think there's any need to re-title the properties. It's really just a legal technicality (to make) sure that the appropriate title holder who is authorized by law is actually the one that owns the property. Just because a deed or title grants ownership to a specific subset of the city does not change the fact that the title holder is the city itself."
He added if it becomes necessary to re-title a piece of property, it will be addressed on a case-by-case basis.
If the city does want to sell parks properties, the Parks Department and city would have to agree to it, Moehlman said.
The confusion came after voters approved the half-cent parks sales tax in April 2005, replacing the previous 16-cent property tax set up with a parks tax.
A parks board that administers a property tax can hold titles to properties under Chapter 90 of the Missouri Revised Statutes. However, that does not extend to a parks commission or department if it is funded by a parks sales tax, according to Chapter 644 of the Missouri Revised Statutes. Moehlman said this is because the City Council authorizes the tax.
Moehlman said the property ownership issue is a "clean-up" from when the city transitioned from a property tax to a parks sales tax.
Nathan Nickolaus, Jefferson City counselor from 2003-11, said because Jefferson City is a charter city - governed by both its city charter and state law - he thinks Jefferson City has the power to allow its Parks Department to own land.
"My opinion had been that Jefferson City, as a charter city, did have the ability to grant that power because a charter city doesn't have to find its power from some specific statute," Nickolaus said. "So there's no reason that Jefferson City couldn't claim that power in its charter unless there is some specific statute out there that we can't."
Moehlman said he does not believe Jefferson City's status as charter city plays into property ownership because property ownership is governed by state law.
Former Jefferson City Mayor John Landwehr said he remembers the issue being brought up before, and previous city attorneys had said the Parks Department "was not in a position to take titles." However, he added the department and Parks Commission is somewhat independent of the city, so he believed the city could hold the titles for properties and allow the Parks Department to have management authority.
The issue resurfaced recently when the Parks Commission renewed a farming contract with Fischer Farms, which leases 52 acres from the Parks Department that are titled in the department's name.
Parks Director Todd Spalding said the commission could renew the contract, but the city will take over the contract when it expires Dec. 31, 2018. The commission approved renewing the agreement last week.
Commission members said since the Parks Department purchased part of that land with the department's money, they did not understand why the city would own the property, along with any other properties the department purchased with its own funds.
Commission member Bill Plank expressed concern there could be money issues between the city and Parks Department. Moehlman said daily operations and funding will not be impacted.
City parks and greenways are currently owned by the city. From now on, the city will be listed as the title holder of any properties the Parks Department wants to purchase to comply with state law.