Email |

Gravely school property going back to heirs

Published October 10th, 2006 | 0 Comments

Survey flags mark the property lines along a fence at Gravely School. The school was closed in May of 2005. David Grace photo.

Gravely School. David Grace photo.

BLOUNTVILLE - The Sullivan County Board of Education will officially sever its ties to the Gravely school property on Nov. 1 - nearly a year and a half after the school closed its doors.

After a number of delays and some confusion surrounding disposal of the property, the school board decided last week to give public notice that the "heirs will have completed their assumption of possession of the property on Nov. 1, 2006."

That date, board attorney Pat Hull advised the BOE and stated in a letter to legal counsel for the heirs, "should give the heirs time to make any final arrangements on their part, such as the purchase of insurance and arrangements regarding utilities, maintenance, security, and the like."

Hull sent the letter to the heirs' attorney in late September in an effort to bring resolution to a matter that has lingered much longer than was planned.

"We thought we had resolved the matter. We thought we needed to turn it over to the county for disposal, and apparently that was not the case (because of the clause)," Director of Schools Glenn Arwood said. "We just don't want there to be any question."

To ensure the disposition of the property and avoid any questions about the system's liability, from this point forward, the board felt it appropriate to give public notice, Arwood said.

The Sullivan County BOE voted in February 2005 to close Gravely Elementary at the end of that school year as part of its restructuring of the North zone, and the school officially closed its doors in May 2005.

The property included three tracts of land - one of which had the reversionary clause attached to it. According to the clause, the tract (the one on which the school building is situated) would revert to the heirs if it ever ceased being used for educational purposes.

So the first question for the BOE was whether that time had come or whether it had another use for the property - a topic that was discussed at the November 2005 school board meeting.

"I think the first decision is does this board conclude that it's not going to use this for school purposes? That will put in motion a whole range of things that will just fall in place," Hull said at that November 2005 meeting.

School officials explored the possibility of using Gravely as a pre-K facility or an alternative school but eventually decided that its location on the "extreme fringe" of the system didn't make it a feasible option for either one.

So in December 2005, the BOE voted to accept Arwood's recommendation to turn the property over "to the County Commission's purchasing agent or whomever is appropriate for the final disposition of this property."

At the time, school officials said details of the transfer would be worked out by the county purchasing agent, Hull and legal representatives of the heirs.

When the topic resurfaced months later with questions about who was paying the bills at the school, which had since been leased by a local church, Sullivan County Schools maintenance supervisor Joe Mike Akard explained that the school system had kept utilities on throughout the winter months in order to protect the building and was continuing to insure it.

Because the BOE did not render a decision on disposition of the property until December, Akard said, school officials did keep gas, electricity and water turned on in order to heat the building and avoid frozen pipes and any potential damage throughout the winter months.

"We kept it set at 45 degrees in the building, just enough to keep it from freezing," Akard said last month. "And we kept it on until May."

Though the building was not in use, Akard said the cost of utilities from July 1, 2005, until May 1, 2006, included: $2,270 for electricity; $751.91 for gas; and $649 for water. Since May, Akard said, any utilities still functioning at the school are being maintained by and are registered to the church.

Akard and Arwood said the school system has continued to pay insurance on the property because of its potential liability in the event of an emergency.

The insurance is included as part of the total bill for the school system's coverage, which is based on square footage, Akard said, so the cost for Gravely alone was not readily available. Arwood said the current insurance rate would likely continue through this contract year. Adjustments to the system's total square footage, he said, would be included when it comes time to renew the contract.

Discuss This Story

Be the first to comment: Sign In or Create Profile .

To comment, you must register.

Comments are the sole responsibility of the registered user participating in online discussions. You agree not to post comments off topic, abusive, obscene, defamatory, vulgar, threatening or an invasion of privacy. Violators may be banned.

Click here to review our complete user agreement.

Times-News Online on Facebook