BERNE — A partnership between Albany County and the town of Berne around Switzkill Farm may happen after all. 

Deputy Supervisor Anita Clayton said at a May 10 town board meeting that town and county officials had discussed a potential partnership and that, while there’s yet to be any official agreement, “They do want to partner with the town.”

“I was hoping to have maybe our next step, but we will start agreements and work up a memorandum of understanding,” she said. 

Albany County spokeswoman Mary Rozak, responding to Enterprise questions in an email this week, said, “Discussions continue regarding the Switzkill Farm property which could include assistance from community organizations. Various plans have been proposed and are evolving.”

It appeared earlier this year that a previous round of talks about a partnership left both sides frustrated with one another — Berne because the county backed away from an expressed interest in purchasing the property, and the county because Berne was reportedly disingenuous about the discussions. 

In March of last year, Albany County had offered the town $150,000 for the property, which Republican officials in the town have been striving fruitlessly to get rid of since they took control of the local government in 2020, arguing that the property, purchased by the town in 2014 with the help of outside funding, is a money pit. 

However, the county backed out of sales talks when it “became apparent that the property was not being maintained by the town of Berne,” Rozak told The Enterprise earlier this year. The Republican-backed town board had disbanded the Switzkill Farm Board and terminated the town’s contract with the property’s live-in caretaker — who was paid only in lodging — as the town attempted to offload the property. 

Supervisor Dennis Palow claimed that the county backed out of the sale because it didn’t have enough money and was aiming to resume talks should Democrats be back in power down the line. What he didn’t mention was that the county had offered to invest in the property while it focused its attention on other projects, primarily to keep the property from degrading any further, and that the town had rejected this. 

Shortly after things fell through last winter, a long-dilapidated barn on the property collapsed, apparently following a snowstorm. The board voted this week to authorize a $25,500 demolition bid for the collapsed barn, which Clayton said would be reimbursed through the town’s insurance.

A sale of the property is still apparently out of the question, as Clayton — who has both complained about and praised the property — said at the May 10 meeting that the property would remain under Berne’s ownership. 

“This will always be the town’s property,” said Clayton.