PELL CITY — The mayor and city council unanimously approved a settlement to avoid a civil trial pertaining to a city well.

The council approved a court settlement after meeting 25 minutes in an executive session Monday night.

When the council returned from the mayor’s office, Mayor Bill Hereford reconvened the council meeting.

Councilman Greg Gossett made a motion to settle a civil case between the city and Pell City-Tifton Properties, LLC, a subsidiary of Thunder Enterprises of Chattanooga.

Gossett made the motion to settle the disputed value of the former Avondale Well site along U.S. 231 South by paying Pell City-Tifton Properties, LLC, the amount of $1.1 million for the one-acre plot.

He said the motion includes everything the city allegedly owes on the property, including any outstanding lease claims made by Pell City-Tifton Properties, LLC.

Councilwoman Dot Wood seconded Gossett’s motion and in a roll-call vote, the motion was unanimously approved.

“It is settled,” Hereford said after the council meeting.

The mayor would not comment further about the settlement.

“No comment at this time,” he said.

Attorney Alan Furr, who represents the city, said Pell City-Tifton Properties, LLC, made the offer Monday in an effort to resolve the case.

He said each party is responsible for its own legal fees.

During the day Monday, jurors were selected to hear the case involving a dispute about the value of the well used as part of the city’s water supply.

Attorneys were expected to make opening statements regarding the value of the one-acre well site. The well provides about a quarter of the city’s water supply. But with the agreement in place, jurors are expected to be released from jury duty today when court reconvenes at 9 a.m.

Pell City-Tifton Properties LLC, bought most of the former Avondale Mills properties in 2007, after Avondale Mills shut its doors in Pell City in 2006.

The city could have extended its lease on the Avondale Mills well for another 20 years, but failed to do so before its agreement with the textile company expired.

Since 2008, the city and the new owners of the well, Pell City-Tifton Properties LLC, have attempted to negotiate the sale and/or lease of the well site and the purchase of the old Avondale Mills plant site, but the parties failed to reach an agreement until Monday.

Last year, a commission appointed by St. Clair County Probate Judge Mike Bowling determined the fair market valued of the well property at $750,000.

City officials say the value appraised by the commission was too high. Officials with Pell City-Tifton Properties, said the value determined by the commission was too low.

Both parties filed appeals and were on their way to try the case before a jury when the settlement was reached late Monday.

Pell City-Tifton Properties, LLC, initially offered to sell the well site to the city for $1.9 million, but city officials say an independent appraisal indicated the property was only worth $310,000.

However, Kevin Whiteside, president of Pell City-Tifton Properties, said last year that the city makes about $1 million annually from the well water pumped from the property along U.S. 231 South.

In an effort to settle the well site dispute last year, Hereford brought a proposal from Pell City-Tifton Properties to the council’s table last November, but the council rejected the offer.

Hereford told the council Pell City-Tifton Properties would sell all Avondale Mills property in Pell City, including the well site, for $2.47 million, or the well site and the 28-acre mill site for $2.2 million.

According to the proposal outlined by Hereford in November 2009, the council was required to purchase the mill site “as is,” and the company was not agreeable to a Phase II assessment of the Avondale Mills plant property, which would have included soil testing of the land used for mill operations for the past 100 years.

All council members agreed the well property was vital to the city, but the council would not consider the purchase of the Avondale Mills plant property without a proper geological survey, soil testing and independent land appraisal.

It is uncertain if the mayor will continue to negotiate with Pell City-Tifton Properties, LLC, for the purchase of part or for the entire 28-acre mill site between Cogswell Avenue and U.S. 78.