City of Waterville hoping to find solution for future of elementary school property
Public hearing April 10 to open bids on Waterville Elementary School ... The Allamakee Community School District Board of Directors has scheduled a public hearing for Tuesday, April 10 at 7 a.m. for the opening of bids for the purchase of the Waterville Elementary School property, the main building of which is pictured above. Bids for purchasing the property are due to the school district by 1 p.m. Monday, April 9. The Notice to Bidders for the intended sale of the property was published in the March 28, 2018 edition of The Standard on Page 2B. Standard photo by Sara Aleckson-Melcher.
by Lissa Blake
If someone is going to come up with a proposal to purchase the soon-to-be-vacated Waterville Elementary School, they’ll have to do it quickly.
“The deadline doesn’t give anyone much time to put something together,” said Waterville Mayor Dave Monserud of the Monday, April 9 deadline set by the Allamakee Community School District (ACSD) Board of Directors for submitting sealed bids to purchase the property.
The ACSD Board has scheduled a public hearing for Tuesday, April 10 at 7 a.m. to open the bids. The action came following a unanimous ACSD Board of Directors vote this past December to close the school at the end of the current 2017-2018 school year.
CONCERNS
Monserud said although the school district has laid out a short timeframe for proposals, there are a number of conversations happening in the community about how to put a viable program together to purchase the school property.
“There are a lot of different discussions and we’re working on some different things. This is a big obligation for anyone to take on,” said Monserud.
Monserud said complicating the issue is the fact the school district doesn’t want to separate the building from the surrounding open grassy area, which houses city-owned playground equipment.
“The Waterville Parents for Progress group has been a very active group for many years. They did fundraising and worked through some grants to purchase that equipment. Because they received a USDA grant, the City is the title owner of the equipment. If someone else purchases that property, we’ll have to move that equipment,” said Monserud.
Monserud said it would be advantageous if the City could be given more time to work out a plan for the building. “Obviously, it’s important to the City to keep something in there, so it doesn’t become rundown,” he said.
ADVANTAGEOUS
When asked about the short bid deadline, ACSD Superintendent Dave Herold said, “I think the board is open to anything. By selling now, the property can change hands possibly by July or so. If the sale is later, the property may not change hands until the fall or winter. The Board felt it was advantageous for the sale in spring when someone could take over the property and have the summer to develop/make changes to the property.”
ACSD Board member Tom Baxter added, “We have had a number of potential bidders express interest in the property. They’d like to know whether or not this is going to work for them before they pursue other options.”
