School Board votes to buy more land
Posted on Friday, July 25, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/News/67460/
The Fayetteville Board of Education decided to buy some property Thursday, but it wasn’t for a new high school.
With a 4-2 vote, the board approved the purchase of a 9. 6-acre plot of land along Deane Solomon Road that adjoins a 101-acre site already owned by the district. Before the vote, there was much discussion about whether keeping all the land was necessary.
Board member Tim Kring proposed buying the 9. 6-acre plot of land but then selling 30 acres along the western section of the land the district already owns that do not front Deane Solomon Road. He argued the district had enough land for future schools and selling these acres could help offset the $ 600, 000 needed to purchase the 9. 6 acres.
Kring’s idea was rejected and he, along with Becky Purcell, ended up voting against the purchase.
The property is owned by Brandon Barber, a developer plagued by financial problems in recent months. Vaughn Knight, his attorney, said foreclosure on the property has been deferred two times in anticipation of the district buying it.
Superintendent Bobby New recommended it be purchased because it adjoins the property, noting that without it the district will have no control over what is built there in the future. The purchase price is less per acre than what the district paid in 2006 for a 22-acre parcel that helped form the 101 acres.
“ This is a bargain, ” New said. “ Please don’t pass this up. ”
Purcell said she understood the motivations for buying the property, but she didn’t think spending that much money on it was a good use of district resources given the amount of land the district already owns.
“ We are charged with investing in students, and this is $ 600, 000 that could be invested in things that directly impact our students, ” she said. ” I don’t see the need to add to it at an expense of $ 600, 000. ”
Fred Turrentine, director of school plant services, estimated the purchase will add 1, 400 feet of district-owned frontage along Deane Solomon Road. It already has 1, 800 feet of frontage, so that will make for 3, 200 altogether. New board member Conrad Odom cast the deciding vote on the issue. He replaced John Delap, who along with Purcell voted against entering into negotiations to buy the land at a previous meeting. Vice President Howard Hamilton was absent, so a vote against buying it from Odom would have caused the motion to tie and fail.
Morningside Drive New did update the board on the status of negotiations for 73 acres along Morningside Drive that could be the site of a new high school. The board voted in May to pursue the purchase of that land to replace the current facility.
New reported the district was currently in the process of collecting soil samples from the property.
The property owners set an asking price of $ 5 million for the land, board attorney Rudy Moore Jr. said.
The board indicated it might hold a workshop in the near future to discuss the purchase of Morningside and the potential sale of the current 40-acre campus to the nearby University of Arkansas. The board’s plan has been to sell the current campus to help subsidize new construction.
“ To me, if we can’t strike a deal with the UA, we’re not going anywhere, ” Board President Steve Percival said.
Search firm The board agreed to hire Ray and Associates of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to conduct a search to replace Superintendent Bobby New, who plans to retire in June 2009. Ray and Associates President Gary Ray estimated the search would cost $ 17, 500 plus expenses, which could push the total close to $ 24, 000. “ No one’s going to be able to recruit better candidates, ” Ray said, later adding, “ This is a high-profile job, and I like doing high-profile jobs. I like some jobs that have some controversy surrounding them. ”
Ray said his firm has experience conducting searches for college towns similar to Fayetteville, citing some Midwest searches for cities with universities in the Big Ten Conference.
The board also heard from representatives from three other firms vying for the contract: Ray and Associates; Hazard, Young, Attea and Associates; and McPherson and Jacobson.
All representatives argued they would find a good administrator for the district and would be proactive in finding applicants.
McPherson and Jacobson claimed to have the most superintendent searches within the state of Arkansas among all the firms in contention, but board members said they favored the nationwide scale of the searches of the other firms.
Board member Becky Purcell said she gave a slight edge to Ray’s firm because he went around shaking board members hands and Smith did not.
“ It’s those little nuances, ” she explained.
The board’s self-conducted search for a superintendent last school year ended with the final candidate, Bryant Superintendent Richard Abernathy, declining the job.