News Photo by Steve Schulwitz Brad Somers, executive director of the Boys and Girls Club of Alpena, poses in front of the club’s former facility on River Street on Wednesday. Alpena County officials are considering amending the deed on that property to allow the club to keep 100% of the proceeds from the sale of the property.

ALPENA — Alpena County could make it easier for the Boys and Girls Club of Alpena to sell the land on which the club’s former clubhouse sits and allow the club to keep the proceeds from the sale.

More than a decade ago, the county gave the River Street property to the club with an agreement that, if the property was ever sold, the new owner would need to offer some type of youth services.

Now, the club, which moved into a new facility earlier this year, has asked the county to terminate that clause in the deed, which would allow the property to be sold to anyone for any use, which should make it easier to sell.

In exchange for removing that provision, county commissioners discussed whether the county could ask the club for a portion of the sale’s proceeds. County Administrator Mary Catherine Hannah told commissioners on Wednesday she’d communicated with the club’s leadership, who expressed a desire to keep the entirety of the proceeds.

During its meeting on Wednesday, the Alpena County Board of Commissioners’ Economic Development Committee voted three to zero to recommend to the full Board of Commissioners that the county remove the clause and allow the club to keep all of the proceeds from the sale.

However, as a condition for removal of the clause, the Boys and Girls Club would have to pay all closing costs and other fees associated with the sale.

Commissioner Robin LaLonde abstained from the vote because she sits on the Boys and Girls Club Board of Directors.

“I think it is an act of goodwill to the club and the kids in this area,” Commissioner Travis Konarzewski said. “They raised the money for the new club on their own and never asked the county for a penny.”

Brad Somers, executive director of the local Boys and Girls Club, said he is unsure what the value of the property is today, but the club would have the property appraised before a sale. He said the proceeds from a sale would help ensure critical programs at the club continue well into the future.

He said that, like everyone else, the club’s rising costs have made operations more expensive, so planning ahead for projected costs and revenues is important.

“We just want to take the funds and use them to service future generations of kids,” Somers said.

The county owned the property and leased it to the club for many years, but former commissioners gifted the property to the club in 2011.

A new Boys and Girls Club facility opened on Miller Street this summer after a years-long fundraising campaign. The new facility provides the latest in technology and security for the staff and kids and should last for many years.

The club needed a new facility because of the poor condition of the old clubhouse, which sits on the shore of the Thunder Bay River.

The Boys and Girls Club has always owned the building on the property.