The Manitowoc Public School District will sell Madison Elementary School to the city.
The school board approved the city’s $1.00 offer for the land last night, but Board Member Chris Able had several concerns about the deal, including the city’s urgency to get it done.
He says while the district might not work in real estate, there should be concern about what could go there.
Specifically, he doesn’t want Manitowoc to break its promise not to turn the land into a TIF, or tax increment financing district.
Able went on to assert, “To that, I can only say, politely, go on and pull the other leg too, because I cannot believe that is credible.”
He told the board that developers like TIF because infrastructure is being paid for through other sources.
Able then tried to make two amendments to nullify the contract if Manitowoc officials end up creating the TIF while owing the district $300,000 back for five years of maintenance costs.
MPSD Board President “Biff” Hansen has a different feeling, saying that without TIF, some blighted areas of Manitowoc wouldn’t have changed.
He’s also concerned about the cost of tearing down Madison Elementary.
“That’ s a lot of money that we would have to tax our people to take the building down if we keep it,” he noted. “I don’t want us to sell it to somebody that rips out the copper or takes whatever is valuable in the building, and then it sits there like some of the properties around the city in the past have done.”
Finance and Facilities Committee Chair Kieth Shaw reiterated, “The district received that land from the city as a gift to build a school, and we’ve utilized it. We’ve had great opportunities in that. And now it’s back to a real estate point of view and a real estate concept. And I don’t believe that’s the district’s responsibility that runs a school. I think it’s the district’s responsibility to educate kids.”
The amendments to the contract were voted down before a 6-1 vote approving the sale of Madison.
After the meeting, Superintendent Lee Thennes says the next step is to finish the school year strong before starting to clear the school.
“In addition to that, there are some very historical pieces of the Madison property that we want to hold on to,” he explained. “As well as offer it up to our historical society. I know there is a sign they are going to come and get because we want to preserve the legacy of Madison.”
The City of Manitowoc will also have to approve the deal on its end.
The entire sale of the Madison Elementary School property should be finished in early August.
