MANATEE - County commissioners will consider giving public money to residents of a run-down trailer park so they can move and pay rent to their new landlords.

Commissioners directed County Administrator Ernie Padgett on Tuesday to research the possible creation of a county relocation and rent assistance fund that would help residents of Trail Motel and Mobile Home Park whose trailers have been declared unsafe structures and must be demolished or repaired.

They asked him to report back at a later meeting, but they did not set a date.

Directions to Padgett came after county attorneys told commissioners that they have legal authority to spend county funds to provide relocation help, including rent assistance, if they have "a clear statement of the public purpose" of the program and if it is made available to others in the future who also are forced to leave their homes prior to demolition under orders of the county's building official.

The attorneys said a relocation program could be established by a simple resolution approved by commissioners, but they recommended the more time-consuming process of adopting an ordinance, which requires an advertised public hearing.

Gregory Schell, an attorney for Florida Legal Services Inc. who represents Trail park residents, told commissioners that "what is holding everything up is money to move."

He said prospective purchasers of the park at 3503 14th St. W., are waiting for residents to leave under county orders before closing the real estate deal so they don't have to pay relocation costs of residents.

"Right now we are in a game of chicken," Schell told commissioners. "Who is going to blink first?"

Outside the chambers, Schell said he agreed with the legal advice County Attorney Tedd Williams and Senior Assistant County Attorney Pat McVoy gave commissioners about starting a relocation fund. But he said he was disappointed that commissioners merely turned the matter over to Padgett without any timetable.

"The question is: How fast do they move?" Schell said. "We need a sense of urgency."

McVoy warned commissioners that it will be harder to craft a relocation program for those residents ordered only to make repairs to unsafe structures, not abandon them in preparation for demolition.

"Those who must vacate a dwelling due to the Building Official's order provide more obvious health and welfare concerns than those who are subject to an order to make repairs," McVoy wrote. "It may take more work to identify the circumstances when assistance would be provided to households subject to the Building Official repair order."

Building Official George Devenport issued 81 unsafe structure orders, including 37 demolition orders and 44 repair orders, to residents of the Trail park in late December. The orders gave each 30 days to act, but Devenport later testified in federal court that he should have allowed 60 days for compliance.

Even that time frame now is fuzzy because his orders will not be enforced until appeals are heard by the Manatee County Construction Code Board of Appeals, Devenport said last week.

McVoy also warned that any relocation assistance program will need financial controls to make sure the money is spent to carry out the identified public purpose.

"Monthly rental assistance paid directly to the lessor should provide a good tool for monitoring and the control required to be sure the public purpose has been met," McVoy wrote. "Monitoring and control will be much more difficult if assistance is provided for the repair or purchase of a mobile home."