After fairly agreeable discussion with the city of Grand Marais on Tuesday, September 18, Commissioners Sue Hakes and Fritz Sobanja headed to School District 166 for further discussion on the proposed Cook County Community Center and its connection to the west end of the school building. That discussion, with school board members Jeanne Anderson and Leonard Sobanja, was civil, but did not go as smoothly. At the end of two hours, the county and school negotiators agreed to go back to their respective boards for more direction.
The meeting started with a review of the appraisal completed by Dawn Cole of Cole Appraisal and Consulting, Eveleth. (No relation to the county’s consultant Wade Cole of ORB Management.) The appraisal valued the building and the .98 acre of land around at $160,000.
Commissioner Hakes said, “We want to come up with what is fair and a winwin for both the school and the county.”
School Board Member Leonard Sobanja got the discussion started by asking, “How much are you offering?”
Hakes responded by first pointing out the building issues the county would be taking out of the school district’s hands. She said the old silo and accompanying building had already been taken down. The county is going to fund the majority of the demolition of the west end of the building. Those expenses total approximately $400,000, Hakes said. And, in exchange, the school will have access to a $9.5 million facility.
In light of those costs, Hakes said, the county would agree to a price of $100,000.
The negotiations paused then, so the school board representatives and Superintendent Beth Schwarz could consider the offer. When they returned, Superintendent Schwarz, who the school board representatives said would speak for them, said, “It is true that if we keep the building we’d have to spend a significant amount of money to replace the gym floor, to take care of water issues, etc. However, we would not tear down the entire building. That is a county decision,” said Schwarz.
“For two years now, we have been able to rent some space in the building. The MN DNR will be leasing the space this winter for $25,000,” she said. “We would be giving that up and we would be relinquishing control of the building.”
Finally, Schwarz noted, the school’s boilers, which are being looked at by the engineers for use in the renovated and new section of the building, were not included in the appraisal. Schwarz said she believes the county is getting a great benefit from retrofitting the boilers. Schwarz said the school board believes it should receive the full appraised value of $160,000.
In addition, Schwarz said, the school wanted a lease payment of $10,000 per year for the first 25 years—paid up front. After that, the school wanted $500 per year for the remainder of a 99-year lease.
Hakes said that figure was too high. “We had an appraisal done by a professional, but I disagree with it. I don’t think anyone would pay that much because it is connected to the school and zoning issues wouldn’t allow anything to be built—except for a community center.
“I know there are people who don’t think we should pay more than a dollar for the building, but this is good for the school and the community. We want to work this out,” Hakes said.
Anderson said if the school district didn’t lease the west end of the school to the county, it could renovate that end of the building to be industrial arts space. That, said Leonard Sobanja, is his goal— to have an adequate industrial arts area. He said the school needs approximately $300,000 to expand and improve the industrial arts area.
Hakes shook her head, “If we paid that out of our budget, we’d have to cut someplace else. We’d have to make drastic cuts. We can’t afford $400,000.”
“What if you took the $100,000 and used it for matching funds for grants?” asked Diane Booth, current community center director. “There are grants out there. If you partnered with Higher Ed, that would be a way to find those additional dollars someplace else.”
Booth offered to help the school find grants for industrial arts.
Schwarz brought the discussion back to the lease amount and reiterated that the county was benefiting from use of the school’s boilers, which were installed in 2007 as part of a $4 million heating and ventilation project. Hakes agreed the boilers could be a bargaining chip for the school, but it depended on the price. She said if the cost was $300,000, it would likely be better for the county to buy new boilers.
There was some debate then, of the condition and value of the building, of zoning issues and of what the county could—and could not—afford to pay. Finally, Anderson said, “I think everyone at this table is acting in good faith. I think we just need to go back to our boards and get everyone up to speed.”
The rest of the group concurred and agreed to meet again after their next board meetings. They agreed to meet on Tuesday, Sept. 25 at 4 p.m. at the Jane Mianowski Conference Room at the school. Leonard Sobanja said, “We’ll talk about it on Thursday, you talk about it on Tuesday and then we’ll get back together.”
In other business, Commissioner Hakes reported that the county and the steering committee were working to find answers to a number of questions asked by the school about the potential shared space. One item that the school wants to see before signing off on the project is the county’s agreement with the YMCA. However, Hakes said, the YMCA was waiting to see what the county’s agreement with the school was going to be. “It’s kind of a chicken and the egg deal,” she said, adding that she talked to Duluth YMCA Director Chris Francis about the dilemma. “Chris agreed to start working on that,” she said.
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