New Concord community learns about proposed $1M sale of elementary school during meeting

NEW CONCORD − Members of the East Muskingum school board, Superintendent Dave Adams, Mayor Jennifer Lyle and members of the New Concord Village Council met with community members Monday evening at the New Concord Elementary School to discuss the possible sale of the school and its surrounding property.

More that 180 people filled the small gymnasium to get answers about the future of the school and its students.

School board president Renee Coll welcomed the crowd and said, "We as a board have a responsibility to make sure that we are being fiscally responsible with our taxpayer money. So regardless of whether we move forward with the sale of New Concord Elementary and this property, our configuration needs to change. We cannot continue to spend money on six buildings when we can be in fewer."

Adams addressed the crowd next, followed by Bob Lamb, executive vice president of development of Connect Real Estate, based in Columbus. Adams spoke about the district's enrollment numbers and the issues the district has faced financially.

"As we approached last May with an expiring levy, we also saw a significant increase in operational costs, post-COVID. We went to our community last May asking for a renewal and an increase to stay the same way we were. Let's operate these six buildings — and in order for us to do that effectively we're going to need more money. I would assume that every person sitting in here today, your costs at home have risen over the last three to five years. We are seeing the same thing as a school district. So therefore we went for that request last May. That request was not met, so we as a district had to make a decision."

A reduction in personnel and staffing reconfigurations were able to save the district roughly $150,000 in personnel costs, with most of that coming from the nutrition department.

Adams continued to talk about the cost of renovating all of the buildings and how the district is looking to purchase two school buses, costing $122,000 each. "The new fair school funding formula, they call it fair. It's fair for some, it just wasn't fair for us," he added. The new formulation decreases the state funding the district would receive for open-enrolled students.

"In summary, here's what we have in a real simple business-mode. We have some aging facilities that are costing us more to operate and, in some regard, we're getting less funding because of that open-enrollment situation. That has enabled us to make some really difficult decisions," ended Adams.

Connect shows interest

In late fall of last year, Bob Lamb and Connect Realty Founder and Cambridge native Brad DeHays approached the district about purchasing the school. Connect was a part of the Appalachian Community Grant application which noted specifically how the building is set for “adaptive reuse and will be used by the Village of New Concord for community events, leveraging nearby parks and parking lots." The $120 million grant request was for a New Concord revitalization project the included the school sale.

After waiting weeks and months to hear about the possible awarding of grant money, Adams said he couldn't wait any longer and asked Lamb how much interest there would be without the grant funding coming through. On May 9 the district received word the grant request would not receive any funding and the board decided the same day to schedule the public forum.

"If we (the board of education) are going to move any further, we and the potential sale of public property require a public meeting in order for you to hear exactly what is going on from every aspect. I can assure you I do not have the authority to sell anything in East Muskingum Schools. It takes board of education action in order for that to happen and I can tell you that has not happened," said Adams.

Lamb addressed the crowd next detailing the plans for the building. He touched on the ability to attract new restaurants to downtown New Concord and ensure they could serve alcohol. The proposed concept for the building includes a variety of uses. "We're talking about restaurant/hospitality uses, and then also apartments. Approximately 30 to 50 apartments going in to a mixed-use building. So we would have some additional retail on the first floor, and then the apartments up above," Lamb said. Roughly $20 to $25 million is what Connect is planning to invest in the project.

Lamb addressed concerns from the crowd about the proposed cost of renting the apartments, to which he replied that the rent would be based on the current market rate at the time of rental. Lamb continued to talk about past Connect Realty projects but did not provide a direct answer from the attendees about how many similar projects have been in a community the size of New Concord. He did point out that Connect Realty has a 100% success rate when it comes to community transformative projects like this, but didn't elaborate on how markers of success are measured.

Connect and the district have tentatively agreed to a purchase price of the school and the surrounding properties for $1 million.

The crowd had a chance to ask questions, and the group did not hold back.

Lamb said the realty group would not be purchasing any private property, only publicly owned land. No bids were taken on the property because the district would be doing a direct sale with a nonprofit organization, the Community Improvement Corp (CIC). According to Lamb, the initial sale would be from the school district to the village. The village would then sell the property to the CIC, which would sell it to Connect, with the $1 million price tag staying constant.

When asked if the meeting was being held to fulfill a requirement about informing the public as to the sale of public property and how much the district would consider the public's opinion, Adams responded, "There was no requirement, and if the decision would have been made then the board would have just voted on it. They are absolutely taking what has been communicated seriously and that decision will ultimately rest with them."

Adams later went on to say that "Our goal would be to get you a decision as soon as our next board meeting would take place. We have a regularly scheduled meeting in June but there would be an opportunity to have a special board meeting as well. It's a 48-hour notice." Following the informational meeting, a notice was sent out Tuesday morning to announce that the board has called a special meeting for Thursday morning at the middle school.

Bussing and concerns about the overcrowding of classes were voiced and community members questioned how the village plans to manage the increased traffic, the increased toll on first responders, and many other issues. The placement of students was lightly touched on by the administration, with the addresses on either side of Ohio 83 determining where students will attend school next year − either Perry Elementary or Pike Elementary.

As Adams responded to concerns, the crowd became visibly more agitated and weary. Parents and community members spoke with tears in their eyes, demanding answers, with many saying they were leaving the meeting with more questions than when they arrived.

People wishing to express their opinion about the matter can reach out to any village council member or school board member. The board will meet at 8 a.m. Thursday at East Muskingum Middle School in the conference room. According to the school board, the meeting will be held to make decisions on personnel, contracts and other operating decisions as needed.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Jeffersonian: Proposed sale of New Concord Elementary School discussed at meeting