Ashley Hunter
ECB Publishing, Inc.
An undeveloped property on Boston Highway and the Jefferson Elementary School (Mamie Scott Elementary School) building – both properties owned by the Jefferson County School Board – have been sold out of district hands.
Bids for both properties were opened on Monday, June 15, at 10 a.m.
The Boston Highway one-and-a-half acre property received only one bid, from the Florida-Georgia Citrus farm, which owns a large tract of land that borders the farm's current property.
Kim Jones, of Florida-Georgia Citrus, placed a bid for $7,501, which was approved 5/0 by board members. The motion to approve Jones' bid was made by Sandra Saunders and seconded by Gladys Roann-Watson.
The second property to be placed up for bidded-sale was the 24.3-acre campus and building that was formerly the Jefferson Elementary (Mamie Scott Elementary) school.
The sale of this campus and building had been a frequently-discussed topic by the school district and several members of the community. The district had previously tried to rent the building out to a church group in the area, but the terms on the rental agreement had not been approved by the church group's leadership committee.
As such, at the monthly school board meeting in May, Jefferson County School Board members agreed to place the school grounds and structure up for sale. Bids were opened to the community and the board received two bids in return, which were also opened on June 15 at 10 a.m.
The first bid was made by the True Wisdom, New Hope Ministry, which is currently located out of Tallahassee. During previous offers made to the district, the ministry had stated that they planned to use the building for religious training, activities and conferences. The ministry offered a bid of $150,000 for the land.
The second bid was placed by Randy Rowell of Jefferson County's Delta Land Surveyors. Rowell's bid of $161,100 out-matched the ministry's bid by $11,100.
Before the bid could be voted on, however, board member Shirley Washington offered some concerns about the sale of the land and its buildings.
Currently, the Jefferson County Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 251 is using a portion of the former school campus as a meeting place for the veterans and their functions. Washington, who is a member of the VFW's women auxiliary, offered concerns over whether or not the prospective owners of the property were aware of the fact that the VFW would be allowed to remain. “I just wanted to make sure that the bidder understood [that],” said Washington.
Superintendent Marianne Arbulu explained that when the bid was placed, she had the Jefferson County Property Appraiser's Office separate the VFW's piece of the parcel from the section that was being sold. The bid packet included a map, which showed which portions of the parcel were for sale and which piece was being reserved for the VFW and would remain in school district hands.
While on that topic, Washington also stated her desire to see the board produce a plan to place the VFW's school-campus building in VFW ownership, permanently. Currently, the VFW is leasing the property from the district, but Washington wanted the board to explore options for handing the property over to the VFW entirely.
“We will always have VFW in this county. When you go to other counties for district meetings, all of the other county VFW's have a nice place to meet. I'm so pleased and so thrilled that the board saw the need for the veterans who fought for this county, to lease that building. I just want to be sure that when we are gone, that building will [still] be the VFW building,” said Washington, explaining that she'd like the board to plan to look into long-term solutions at another board meeting. “In the long run, when the years come, we need to be sure that we have something secured there – that the building will remain the VFW building.”
It was generally agreed that options would be explored at a later meeting.
Board member Sandra Saunders, who lives near the property, asked if the board and Superintendent Arbulu knew what Delta Land Surveyors planned to do with the property and its building, should the board approve their bid. “Since its right around the corner from my house, I would love to learn what the person is contemplating putting there,” said Saunders.
Rowell's daughter, Kim Odom, was present at the meeting and said that she had been told to give the board members a brief, if cryptic, message from her father. “He's got some different ideas and things, but he just said to expect exciting things,” said Odom.
Odom also stated that her father and his company were aware of the VFW's placement on the school grounds and planned to work with the district to accommodate the veteran organization.
The motion to approve Delta Land Surveyor's $161,100 bid for the Jefferson Elementary School campus (excluding the VFW's portion) was made by Board member Charles Boland, and seconded by Roann-Watson. The motion was approved 5-0.
After the school board's decision, this reporter reached out to Odom to receive a further comment regarding her family's plans for the school campus, which is situated just outside of Monticello.
“Although any plan can change, our initial concept is to subdivide the property into smaller, manageable parts,” said Odom. “We plan to use part of it for surveying and engineering offices and parts for personal storage. Buildings that are beyond repair, we plan to take down. We will offer portions that we do not have immediate plans for up for sale or lease.”
So concludes the months-long discussion regarding the school district's management, ownership and oversight of the former elementary school campus, and so begins a new journey to revitalize a currently-abandoned property.