HAYESVILLE — A lot can change in a year, and for Hillsdale Local Schools, the 2023-2024 school year marked its first in a brand new building.
But the question the district faces now is what to do with the properties for the old buildings.
At its Tuesday board meeting, the Hillsdale Local Schools Board of Education heard public comment from officials representing Vermillion Township and the village of Jeromesville. The officials expressed interest in the properties of the district’s former elementary school and middle school.
The district’s old elementary school is located in Hayesville. The old middle school sits in Jeromesville.
It also heard a presentation from a lawyer, who walked through the options to consider for selling the properties.
The board entered executive session at 7:45 p.m. for “discussion of sale of property.”
Supt. Catherine Trevathan confirmed the board discussed the elementary and middle school properties in executive session. No action was taken.
Trevathan told meeting attendees the board hopes to have something on its August agenda regarding the properties. The board’s regular August meeting is scheduled for Aug. 20 at 7 p.m.
Who wants the properties, and why?
At the meeting, Grant Connell identified himself as being with Vermillion Township. He spoke about Vermillion Township’s interest in the district’s former elementary school property in Hayesville.
“At the end of the day, we’re running out of cemetery ground,” Connell said. “So, we think it’d be beneficial to the community if we could turn that into a cemetery, and keep it as a park as long as we can with the ball field.”
Right now, according to Connell, the cemetery in Hayesville could be full in two to three years. But they wouldn’t fill the old school property with a cemetery for at least 10 years, Connell estimated.
Todd Elliott, chief of Jeromesville’s fire department, and Randy Spade, Jeromesville’s mayor, both spoke about the village’s interest in the old Hillsdale Middle School property.
Elliott said he hopes to build a fire department in Jeromesville, but there’s not really a place for that.
“It would be very beneficial to us to grow in the future,” Elliott said.
He added nothing would happen for a few years, but he hoped for that opportunity.
Elliott said the fire department would share the space with the town. Spade, Jeromesville’s mayor, agreed.
“Our town and the fire district share a solicitor,” Spade said.
The solicitor was confident the fire department and village could work out a shared use, he said.
Spade also said the village wants to be prepared for the number of new families Hillsdale Local Schools’ new building will attract.
“From the town’s perspective, we’re hoping to keep it in community use for some purpose or another just to make sure that the future of Jeromesville has the opportunity to use the space for community purposes,” Spade said.
What options does the board have?
According to Austin Musser, a partner with Bricker Graydon, the board can consider two options for the properties of the elementary and middle schools.
Bricker Graydon is a full service law firm. Musser said he focuses on helping local governments with property. According to Musser, school districts are more restricted than other government entities.
He said with properties worth over $10,000, typically, a district is limited to an auction. There’s no ability to sell privately unless a district can’t sell the property at auction.
But, Musser told the board the statute has an exception. That exception states if a district wanted to do a sale to another “political subdivision,” they could do so, “upon such terms as are agreed upon,” Musser said.
That type of political subdivision includes fire districts, villages, townships, counties or universities, Musser said.
Vermillion Township, along with Jeromesville and its fire district, all fall under that classification, according to Musser. So, the board would be able to negotiate and sell all or part of the properties to the township, village and fire district.
“Your considerations are balancing what might you get at auction and what might that financial impact be on the district, versus what are your options to do a transaction with a neighboring political subdivision and how might that impact the community,” Musser told the board.
If the board of education chose to take the route of selling to the township, village or both, they’d work on coming to a contract agreement, as would the township and village’s governing bodies.
Both parties would then have to approve the final contracts in public meetings, Musser said.
