The Macon County Schools’ Board of Education unanimously approved a new version of the Higdon property lease that would mandate the county cover all maintenance and land upkeep costs.
Board Attorney John Henning presented the new version of the 40-year lease to the board during its August meeting. The county closed on the property June 29 for $1.35 million. Soon after, the county and school board approved a memorandum of understanding (MOU) and has been working on a formal lease.
One part of the lease talks that has changes concerns the maintenance and upkeep costs.
“It normally is yours to keep and operate,” Henning said. “This one’s different because it does not immediately lend itself, the house, for public school purposes. It’s not set up for ADA accessibility, energy conservation, electrical, a whole bunch of things that are expected of a school building.”
The new section of the lease states the Higdon property house “would require substantial renovations to be used for educational purposes” and that the school board “does not have the financial means to make such renovations.”
“Furthermore, it is understood and agreed that the Board of Education does not have the financial means to provide maintenance nor repair of the building, not the regular mowing and landscaping of the grounds surrounding the structures, unless and until portions of the grounds are used for school purposes,” the lease states. “Until such time as the county and Board of Education shall agree otherwise in writing, the county agrees to provide for the upkeep and maintenance of the building and to provide mowing and landscaping of the leased property.”
Henning said the future upkeep of the property will be part of future conversations between the school system and the county.
Henning said MCS has an immediate need for the land due to the planned displacement of the Franklin High School agricultural program due to Phase One (stadium) work that will begin if the Board of Commissioners approve it. According to past presentations, Phase One work would begin after the football season ends, possibly as late as Spring 2024.
“It may lend itself to other uses as we move on,” Henning said of the Higdon property.
Another “boiler plate” addition Henning included in the lease is that if there are any taxes that come up, the school board would be responsible for them. Henning said that is an unlikely scenario due to local governments being exempt from property taxes on land it owns.
The school board’s approval of the lease came with the caveat that Henning and MCS Superintendent Josh Lynch can negotiate other aspects of the lease in future negotiations with the county without board approval.
School board member Hilary Wilkes said the big discussion during the schools’ liaison meeting centered around termination of the lease clauses. Henning said he believes the school board could quit the lease any time as there’s no rental fee attached.
Henning said he had the termination clause removed from the lease since it’s unknown how the school system will use the property at this time.
FHS project visualization
The next school board meeting, Monday, Sept. 28, at Highlands School, could have VR headsets for people to visualize what the proposed new Franklin High School will look like.
This is according to school board members Wilkes and Diedre Breeden, who are on the schools’ liaison committee with commissioners Gary Shields and Josh Young.
Wilkes said the school liaisons have met three times in the last month. These meetings are not open to the public as they only have two members of the school board and commissioners each, plus Superintendent Lynch and County Manager Derek Roland.
“Ninety-plus percent has been focused on the design of Franklin High School in terms of the aesthetic of the front, some of the primary spaces such as the media center, cafeteria, outdoor spaces, the high traffic areas, and the general design of the building,” Wilkes said.
Wilkes said the county’s architectural firm LS3P could have VR goggles at the Sept. 28 school board meeting.
“I think we’ll be able to link [the design] with our goggles, we have not been able to do that, we have just seen images, given feedback and they’ve come back with more images,” Wilkes said. “I think y’all will like it.”
Wilkes complimented LS3P’s designer on incorporating the liaison committee’s feedback and said LS3P’s Paul Boney and Emily Kite, who have been the point people on the new FHS design and prep work, will likely also be at that Sept. 28 meeting.
Wilkes also said there’s been talks of how to rebid and fund the two Highlands School projects, the Pre-K addition and middle school renovations.
Breeden said the Macon Middle School track will be rebid with more specific parameters. MCS Personnel Director Todd Gibbs said it’s a desire to be “more apples to apples” comparisons so the requests for proposals don’t come back with different ideas.
Board Chair Jim Breedlove said it’s good that there’s “open lines of communications” to the commissioners through the liaisons.
Immediate needs funded
The board used three different funds to pay for three immediate needs going into the school year.
The board approved to use general funds to purchase a $70,000 truck, ESSER funding to purchase a $20,000 HVAC unit for the Franklin High School media center, and capital outlay funds for $47,000 for three commercial mowers.
According to MCS Superintendent Josh Lynch, the needs came up since the July school board meeting. In the FHS media center, two of the three HVAC units are faulty, although maintenance staffers were able to salvage one of the two. The school system needs new mowers at Cartoogechaye Elementary, Macon Middle and Mountain View Intermediate. And the maintenance staff needs a new diesel-engine truck for hauling, since the current one is a hazard to drive.
Lynch said MCS has roughly $160,000 in capital outlay funds left for 2023-24.
If all three new immediate needs were funded from capital outlay, there would only be a few thousand dollars left, MCS Finance Officer Angie Cook said.
Out of the capital outlay items approved in July, Gibbs said the purchase order for the new activity bus is done, the East Franklin Elementary flooring is finished as is the Highlands School fencing.