New Walker County Commissioner Shannon Whitfield said requests for proposals are being prepared for an outside operator of Mountain Cove Farms.
He said the process may take about 90 days before officials have some proposals in hand.
Commissioner Whitfield said the county cannot afford to operate the property itself and suffer "hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses."
He said the scenic property where Lookout Mountain and Pigeon Mountain come together is so heavily leveraged that it is not feasible to sell it.
"A lot of citizens don't want it sold," he noted.
He said a proposal being considered by the last administration to lease Mountain Cove Farms for $2,000 a month for a period up to 50 years "was a very, very bad deal for the county."
Rock City Gardens recently expressed an interest in the operation.
Commissioner Whitfield said the county landfill is also a serious drain on county finances.
He said it is losing about $500,000 per year.
Commissioner Whitfield said so much money has been spent at the county industrial park "that it will be many years before the county is able to recoup its investment."
However, he said the county is continuing talks with some industrial prospects that would add jobs to the county.
Commissioner Whitfield spoke of the possible merits of merging two water and sewer authorities that are in Walker County. The Walker County Rural Water and Sewage Treatment Authority is headquartered in Rock Spring and has been in business for 33 years.
He said the Walker County Water and Sewerage Authority based in Flintstone was chartered by the legislature in 1977. That was the group that former Commissioner Bebe Heiskell had planned to join in a public relations post. She named three of her supporters to its board just before leaving office. Commissioner Whitfield went to court to block the transfer of a car being driven by Ms. Heiskell from the county to the water company. John Culpepper, board chairman, resigned over the flap. Commissioner Whitfield has joined the board and is its new chairman.
Commissioner Whitfield said there may be several different layers of duplication by having two water and sewer authorities in the same county, and he said there may be savings in merging them.
The new official said his administration will be looking at other areas of county government as well to save money "without negatively cutting services."
He urged residents of Walker County to help support county government by shopping and dining within Walker County, instead of Catoosa County and Chattooga County. "I am sometimes guilty of that myself," he said.