Commission agrees to send purchase agreement to Jasper School Corporation

The Jasper Economic Redevelopment Commission amended their earlier decision to offer a 10-year option to the Greater Jasper Consolidated School Corporation to purchase 10 acres of The Parklands property.

The unanimous decision comes after members of the Jasper Common Council were vocal about the commission’s role in purchasing and selling the property. According to state statute redevelopment commissions have the authority to make those decisions in regards to property. The purchase of the former Jasper Country Club property was handled through the redevelopment commission.

Last month, the commission voted 4-1 — commission member John Kahle the only nay vote — to offer a 10-year option to purchase ten acres adjacent to the Jasper High School practice baseball fields.

Today, commission president John Bell stated there was a perception that a disconnect had occurred between the redevelopment commission and the common council. “I don’t really think it was there but it was perceived that way. But we have been working with the council all along hand-in-hand and will continue to do so,” Bell said. “We are an extension of the city council on this project and we want to work as a team and always have.”

The issue came to head during the March Jasper Common Council meeting when the council voiced its opinion that a ten-year option recently approved by the redevelopment commission was not the path they wanted to pursue in regards to the sale of the property.

Bell stated the redevelopment commission has moved forward in its decisions regarding the park property while keeping the recommendations made by the common council in mind. “The meeting record shows that this commission had a long and vigorous discussion regarding to sell the land outright, or to give the school a choice to purchasing the land as a ten-year option,” Bell read from his prepared remarks. “After much debate and discussion, the RDC with a majority vote, determined the purchase option was the most flexible and best choice for both parties; the school and the city.”

“Public comments describing this vote by the RDC as ridiculous are simply incorrect and unfair. This commission stands by our vote. However, with that said, I agree with city council comments that the redevelopment commission agreed to act in good faith with recommendations from the city council.,” Bell continued. “I formally asked approval of the council for our commission to take the lead in purchasing the Jasper Country Club property and gave them my word we would not act alone on this project and would always be working in conjunction with the city council. That was and still is the case.”

Bell further noted the commission took no actions without the council feedback.

Jasper Common Councilman Kevin Manley stated in an interview today that the ten acres being sold to the school corporation is one of the properties he and other council members would like to see sold to replenish the city’s Rainy Day Fund. The purchase of the property was made with $1,087,795 from the Rainy Day Fund — before the purchase the city had about $2.6 million in the fund.

“We didn’t want to wait ten years on a ten-year option,” Manley said. “We planning on that money coming back into the rainy day fund. We are counting on that as a piece of it, we [the council] only wants to sell three properties; Lechner Lanes, Truman Road, and 30th Street properties and we don’t want to sell the Bockelman property. At least that is what most of the councilmen have told me.”

The fund was used with the consensus that the sale of this portion of the property along with several other Jasper Park properties would be used to replenish the fund. The city had considered selling the Lechner property near Precious Blood, Bockelman property north of the Municipal Golf Course, the 30th Street Park and an additional 10 acres the city owns near St. Charles Street and Truman Road to replenish the Rainy Day Fund. The council has shown some reluctance in selling the Bockelman property due to its location and potential use in the future. At least two business owners in Jasper have already shown interest in purchasing the property if it is offered for sale.

“I really considered the option as a purchase,” commission member John Schneider stated during the meeting. “It just gave the school time to do it.”

Redevelopment commission member Ray Howard, who is also a member of the common council, stated the 10-year option was preferred by the school corporation. “It just gave them more time to purchase,” Howard said. “because they brought up the fact they were in debt and it was going to take them a while to get out of debt. I just presumed that that was the way they wanted to go.”

According to Bell, the common council was aware the redevelopment commission and school corporation were leaning that way prior to the decision last month.

Redevelopment commission member Bernie Vogler, who is a member of the school board, stated that all along the school board has wanted to cooperate and not argue publicly about the purchase. “One of the reasons I liked the option was we [school corporation] didn’t have the maintenance,” Vogler said. “I didn’t think about them [city] getting the money to replace the money in the Rainy Day Fund. All along we have wanted to get along. Maybe there is a shift among the members to buy it outright.”

The agreement that City Attorney Renee Kabrick was directed to complete will give the Greater Jasper Consolidated School Corporation 60 days to respond. It will include language to ensure the golf cart path will remain available for use by residents when The Parklands opens. The purchase agreement will be for $17,344.50 per acre — the average of the two appraisals completed by the Jasper Redevelopment Commission before completing the purchase.

“The goal is to be able to have the city controlling the cart path,” Kabrick said. “If we are going to be opening the park, we need to be able to maintain that.”

The park and recreation department has several issues it needs to work through before opening The Parklands to the public. “They will have to determine where people can park,” Kabrick pointed out. “What about restrooms. Additionally, part of the cart path is on property that was sold to the adjacent property owners (along Emily Street).”

According to Kabrick, the purchase agreement is the first step to opening the negotiations between the city and school corporation.

“I don’t think it was a major issue to offer the option to purchase or outright purchase of the property,” Bell stated. “We were just trying to give the most flexible option and what we thought was the desire of the school corporation based on a meeting we had prior. Hopefully we can wrap this up now and continue to work together for the best for everybody involved.”

The Greater Jasper Consolidated School Corporation is scheduled to meet April 28 for their regular meeting. School Superintendent Dr. Tracy Lorey did not return a phone call prior to the publication of this article.