HOLYROOD — While there appears to be interest in the former Central Plains Middle School building at Bushton, USD 112 Board of Education members resisted the urge to move forward during the board’s Aug. 10 meeting and instead decided to wait to consult with their attorney.

However, a special meeting was later set for Tuesday of this week, several hours after the I-R went to press, and the Bushton building was on the agenda.

During the Aug. 10 meeting, district officials not just discussed the building, but talked at length about the expense of relocating a heating and cooling system to the school as well as the possibility of using a formal bidding process to attract potential buyers.

Central Plains Superintendent Greg Clark told the board he received a letter earlier in the day from the City of Bushton informing the district that city officials still had an interest in the building. According to the letter, the city was interested in entering a formal sale agreement to purchase the middle school building provided it was fully operational with heating, cooling and lighting.

Several months ago, the board offered to sell the building to the City of Bushton for $1. City officials had until Dec. 31 to enter the non-binding agreement, but never formally responded, officials said. Now, the district has at least one additional offer.

However, during this month’s meeting, the board agreed 4-3 to remove the boiler and HVAC equipment from the Bushton building and install it in the Central Plains Elementary School in Holyrood.

Last year, the board voted to close the middle school in Bushton after voters failed to pass a bond issue to update all four of the district’s buildings. Clark said the district hoped something could be made of the Bushton building, which has been closed since the beginning of the 2019-20 school year. Since that time, the City of Bushton has rented a single room for the township library, which was open a few times each week. Currently, the building costs an estimated $2,000 each month to operate, officials said.

In July, the board heard from Davis Jimenez, of Great Bend, who told officials he wanted to purchase the building for concealed carry firearms training. While Jimenez said he was still interested, board member Tamara Dody said the board needed to know what the City of Bushton was offering.

“I still feel like the reason Bushton never gave us a formal yes, no, take it or leave it is because we were too up in the air about what was really being offered to them,” he said. “Now that we’ve taken action on removing the HVAC, now would be the time to sit down with the city if they are still interested.”

While the cost to move an older HVAC system to Bushton would total an estimated $40,000, district officials were unsure whether they could use taxpayer dollars to move the equipment back to a building which would ultimately be sold.

Hoping to get an answer, Clark called Angie Stallbaumer, assistant director of legal service for the Kansas Association of School Boards, during the meeting. Despite Stallbaumer’s reassurances the board could do so, board members recommended the district have board attorney John Sherman verify whether the district could use tax dollars. Officials also asked whether Sherman could explain how the district could move forward in the bidding process.