Starkville School District and East Mississippi Community College have yet to reach terms on a deal that would allow the college to operate a satellite facility within Oktibbeha County.
Negotiations have hit a snag, SSD Superintendent Lewis Holloway said Tuesday, after EMCC officials asked to use West Oktibbeha High School, a Maben campus that will close after July 1’s state-mandated consolidation, without paying for property insurance or major repairs.
EMCC officials agreed upon similar provisions in a previous deal with West Point, he said.
The Starkville School District Board of Trustees took no formal action on the matter Tuesday. Instead, the five-member board directed Holloway to continue discussions with EMCC officials.
In April, SSD and EMCC first began exploring a potential lease that would allow the college to offer general education testing and entry-level collegiate classes at WOCHS beginning fall semester.
Holloway previously said annual lease amount could be set extremely low, but the administrator Tuesday described the missing provisions for repairs and insurance as “deal-killers.”
“They’re thinking, ‘It’s your building. You don’t want the roof to leak.’ No, but I don’t want to use capital money … in a building we’re not using,” he said.
Under the current consolidation plan, Oktibbeha County School District’s two elementary schools will remain open after the merger with SSD and service students who reside in the outlying county area. The two county high schools will close, and their respective students will attend Starkville High School.
A favorable lease would allow the district to pass off maintenance and upkeep responsibilities of the facility to EMCC in return for a physical presence in the western portion of the county.
Holloway said SSD could increase the proposed lease price to match estimated repairs in the future — if a $100,000 roof repair project was expected, the district could charge at least $10,000 for 10 years — but officials cannot fully predict the campus’ future needs.
“Without knowing what you have to come up with, that’s a little scary for me,” he said.
Holloway estimated the about 60,000-square-foot campus could fetch “several $100,000” in a fire sale, but the district’s best use of its resources could be achieved by retaining ownership of the property while passing off its upkeep.
“If something were to happen to West Elementary, what would we do? We don’t have any options,” Holloway said.
“But does it have value if nobody uses it? Do we want to be landlords, or would we rather benefit someone we don’t have to pick up the bill for?” asked school board president Eric Heiselt. “There has to be some equitable way to bring it to a lease situation.”
Jettisoning control of WOCHS and its associated upkeep would shed costly requirements for an unused building and could be an easier option since East Oktibbeha County High School sits on 15th section land, which brings about similar state requirements for leasing as land designated 16th section, Holloway said last month.
The law states the school district can only lease out that campus for a minimum of 5 percent of its appraised value, he said in the previous meeting, which roughly translates to about $60,000 annually.
A church and private resident have inquired about the building’s availability, but Holloway previously said “I don’t know how many $65,000 people are out there.”
Although the district will continue negotiating with EMCC, the school administrator said other business groups could have interest in utilizing the facility. Other districts have found similar deals with developers that convert schools into minimalls and apartments, Holloway said.
“Being on that end of the county and knowing what it’s going to do if (the campus) is going to be left unoccupied, it’ll create a vacuum,” said school board member Lee Brand. “I am open to seeing what can come of this, but there needs to be reasonable discussions on both sides. You’re talking about a town that doesn’t have a whole lot there.”
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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