Oktibbeha County supervisors thought they had reached a mutually beneficial arrangement by splitting the usage of its Main Street education building between emergency management and the new Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District until they read newspaper quotes from Superintendent Lewis Holloway saying he would fight for additional space.
The fate of the building — the board previously cleared Oktibbeha County Emergency Management Agency to move in and occupy the top floor — has not changed, but supervisors Tuesday said they want to hear from Holloway directly about the school district’s needs so they can determine what exactly the county is on the hook to provide.
While District 1 Supervisor John Montgomery and District 4 Supervisor Daniel Jackson said they were frustrated with the entire process — from state lawmakers’ actions forcing the county to provide for the consolidated district to the perceived lack of direct communication with Holloway — others agreed the county must work with the school system and reach an agreement without entering into litigation.
District 3 Supervisor Marvell Howard, who has recently met with Holloway, said the school district is preparing another proposal for supervisors to review. That plan, Howard said, should be presented soon, but a specific date was not given.
“We don’t want Jackson to have to dictate to us what we’re going to have to do. We’re big enough here that we can get this thing worked out,” Howard said. “We’re starting to see eye to eye and are narrowing the gap. When we look past the school board and the board of supervisors, we have a lot of little children here that have to be educated.”
Howard, who previously suggested diverting potentially perpetual rent contributions toward the construction of a new school facility, brought a new wrinkle to the table Tuesday: the county could purchase Cadence Bank’s Main Street property, the same parcel city officials almost purchased for police usage, and turn it over to the district for its new headquarters.
Aldermen declined to buy the bank in March after reports showed the city would have to spend $2.55 million to acquire the property and at least $800,000 to renovate it for police use.
Supervisors were quick to bring up how the city balked at the deal and said any repairs or modifications would have to be covered by the school district.
The board took no action on Howard’s suggestion.
Holloway first aired his dissatisfaction with the county’s plan last week.
He asked: If the former Oktibbeha County School District, which served about 800 students, was allowed to use the entire county education building, why shouldn’t SOCSD, with its 5,000-plus enrollment, get the same deal or be provided additional administrative space?
“This does not (meet) the fair test,” Holloway said on July 14. “Being a bigger (school district), (supervisors) should be supplying more space, not less.”
He indicated the district would continue negotiations with the county. It could seek financial restitution for the portion of the building it was denied, Holloway said, or it could choose legal means to remediate the situation.
Both Montgomery and Jackson said they felt the issue was put to rest in June when supervisors divided the building between the two entities.
“I thought we met what Holloway needed. When he came and met with us, he said he needed about 4,500 square feet,” Montgomery said Tuesday. “Where’s 911 going to go (if OCEMA’s move is canceled)? The situation with them, you can’t disregard them. Five years from now, you’ll have a substandard 911 system. The school is important, but so is 911.”
“Once it was no longer a county school district, there should have never been another bill-paying problem with this board,” Jackson added in reference to legislation forcing the county to provide for the school district. “This is nothing but (the school district) trying to get a new building.”
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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