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THURSDAY, MAY 22, 2003

The Bureau of Indian Affairs only has one employee handling property transactions for the entire United States, according to the employee charged with the task.

That might explain why it has taken more than three years for the agency to complete paperwork for a property transaction involving a decommissioned Navy air base in Iowa. According to The Cedar Falls Courier, BIA asked the site to be held in trust for the Meskwaki Tribe but it turned out the land wasn't needed.

That was back in 1999 and the General Services Administration, which handles "surplus" and "excess" government property is still waiting on the BIA. "I am the only one doing all the property of the entire United States for this kind of thing," Ruth Smith of the BIA's Property Management Division told the paper. "I believe I have a packet on the Waverly property and hope to get to it in the next two weeks."

Get the Story:
Abandoned Waverly air base caught in federal red tape (The Cedar Falls Courier 5/22)