NORWICH – The regulations concerning the sale of city-owned property in the City of Norwich have been changed, allowing the city authority to negotiate during the sale.

In 1998, the requirements in the City Charter for the sale or lease of city owned real property was changed. The changes restricted disposal of property to a process involving sealed or open bids only. If the city wanted to negotiate a sale, the only way to do so required them to transfer the property to the Local Development Corporation, which could then negotiate a sale. All proceeds then generated from the sale of the property were retained by the LDC.

City Finance Director William Roberts was asked to research the possible change of the City Charter to allow the city to negotiate property sales.