Usually, when the county buys a piece of property, the commissioners have a pretty good idea of how they plan to use it.
However, on Thursday, Oct. 19, the Guilford County Board of Commissioners went into closed session and made the decision to purchase a building from the school system with no determinate plans.
The board came out of closed session and voted publicly to purchase the old Erwin Montessori School on East Bessemer Avenue, but Guilford County Commissioner Frankie Jones, who made the motion, said after the meeting that there were no hard and fast plans yet as to how the county would use the building.
The board has been considering buying the old school for a long time but on October 19 they voted to direct staff to enter into a contract to purchase the school and the surrounding nine acres for a price not to exceed $100,000.
The school – along with two other schools in the city – was badly damaged in 2018 by a tornado, and it has been abandoned ever since.
Jones said the county will now take feedback as to what would be the highest and best use of the old school.
“There’s engagement with the community, and so we’re getting feedback,” he said.
Jones did say that it would not be a homeless shelter and he hinted that it could end up as a sort of “community center” or a “work force development center.”
Since the building is owned by Guilford County Schools, the Board of Commissioners – upon the school system’s decision to sell the property – has first right of refusal before the school system can sell that property to anyone else.
The county commissioners usually have no interest in purchasing old schools or related properties. However, in this case, they decided that they could indeed make use of it – even if they still aren’t quite sure how.
After the tornado hit the school five years ago, the building was deemed unsafe for occupancy. The Guilford County Board of Education announced last year that it intended to put the tornado damaged school up for sale. Earlier this year the Board of Commissioners considered fixing it up to use as a homeless shelter or a drug rehab center, however those plans now look dead in the water.
More wasted tax dollars for a dump. Maybe the 9 acres can be used for a new housing community instead of the dog houses used by the city each winter.
Behind closed doors of the County Commissioners …’shhhhhh. We just need to keep this low key while we negotiate that deal with the Fed on a place to put some more illegal aliens, I mean ‘undocumented immigrants”.
It doesn’t sound like a bad price for nine acres, but if (since) they don’t need it, there is no valid reason to buy it. Buying what you don’t need just because the price is good is asinine, which also describes our commissioners. Oh well, it’s not THEIR money.
Saw Skip on TV last night, he said that the community wants the school that the county is buying to be used for their “dreams, big dreams” and the county is looking for government funding to build what the community wants. Skips here’s an idea, why don’t you get back from your worthless money pit “museum “ the 100k the city just gave you and the 100k the county just gave you and use that for the “big dreams” seed money. I’m calling you out to produce the PAID attendance numbers for the last 3 months. I’m willing to bet it’s not 50 a month. Prove m wrong Skip. I’m not worried I don’t think you have the keisters to do it.
I would also like to see those numbers. This museum is always empty and eating money. Dispense with the money pit which is only valuable to Skippy and let a store move in there and generate income to Guilford County. Nobody cares about the museum. We all know and respect what the 4 did. We know our history. We applaud them for taking a stand for rights. But that pit of a ridiculous museum needs to go! Nobody goes there cause nobody cares about the stuff in there. That is valuable space that could hire employees and put money into the city and county.
It’s only still a museum because of Skippy the Stupid. He’s obviously found a way to profit off of it and that’s why he doesn’t want to let it go. Our commissioners need to step up or step down. Stop letting Skippy control everything just because you’re scared of the moron. He’s absolutely a nobody!