LANSING — One dollar. One George Washington. 100 copper Abe Lincolns.

It doesn’t buy much these days, but for Oscoda County, it could buy space for a jail or offices.

A pending Senate bill would let the county buy the building that houses the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Mio field office for that miniscule amount of money.

The $1 price tag results from complicated negotiations over the building, which involved county officials, representatives from the DNR and Sens. Tony Stamas, R-Midland, and Michelle McManus, R-Lake Leelanau.

“We had discussed it previously because the state can’t donate to a non-profit or other governmental agencies.” said County Commissioner Michael Hunt. “So when we talked with Mr. Stamas in his office, we said, ‘Well, how can we transfer this?’

“And somebody in the room said, ‘We could sell it to you for $1, just to have a purchase price.’”

The Stamas bill is in the Senate Appropriations Committee. If passed, it would require the DNR to transfer the deed to its facilities to the county.

Oscoda County has tried for more than five years to acquire the two-acre property.

“In 2001, we got a letter at the Oscoda County commissioners office that the DNR was willing to offer that property and building to Oscoda County, and we were interested,” Hunt said. “We sent a letter back and we started the process of trying to acquire that land.”

While experiencing what Hunt called “delay after delay,” he and other county officials contacted their representatives and senators, but even that was to little avail. Stamas stepped in to help, but things continued moving slowly.

Months of silence following a 2006 meeting between county and state officials ended with an e-mail from Stamas’ office saying the DNR was having problems with a consolidation survey of its offices and with the company conducting that survey.

Rodney Stokes, legislative liaison for the DNR, said the department’s initial request for the survey was returned because of a technical problem, and the company conducting the survey asked for more time to complete its analysis.

“I’m sure the local unit of government and probably even the legislator are saying we’re stalling, but it has been a series of issues that’s beyond our control,” he said.

The Mio field office’s staff includes a fire officer, because it is located in a critical area for wildfires and forest fires, according to Stokes.

“It’s a strategic location for us in terms of fisheries and wildlife,” said DNR public information officer Mary Dettloff. The office runs the annual census of the endangered Kirtland’s warbler and serves as a station for collecting information on the health of deer herds.

The department is not prepared to say where the Mio workers would be relocated.

Hunt said Oscoda County would most likely use the building as a jail — which the county does not have — or offices. Prisoners are held for up to 24 hours at the sheriff’s office and then transferred to jails in neighboring counties.