Back in January, Park County Public Works brought to the county commissioners some surprising news: The county owned some pieces of property it had not been aware of. 

Two of those near Frannie, totalling nearly an acre and a half, were both put under county ownership after tax sales following delinquency. 

Now, after a bid process, the county has rid itself of the larger of the properties, a 1 acre parcel a neighboring cattle rancher had been using for years to access a piece of his land. 

That ranch, B/Land LLC, purchased the parcel for $15,001, $1 over the appraised price, as the lone bidder. 

Public Works Project manager Ben McDonald said three people had expressed interest in the parcel on the Montana border, but in the end only the neighboring rancher bid. 

“Really the only interest I had was three people contact me about parcel number one, and only one followed up,” he said. 

No one expressed interest or bid on a .4 acre parcel within Frannie city limits that was appraised for $8,600 and McDonald said could work as a spot for a coffee hut. 

Still, the commissioners were happy to get at least one until recently unknown parcel off their hands. 

“This is a parcel we didn't even really know we had,” Commissioner Lloyd Thiel said. “It's totally isolated, has no, in my opinion, future use for the county. It'll clean it up a little bit off the books, so therefore I'm going to go ahead and move to approve that.”