Something to say : UA officials want to get trustees’ approval to talk about FHS purchase
Posted on Thursday, June 5, 2008
The University of Arkansas board of trustees on Friday will consider an official recommendation from UA System President B. Alan Sugg to authorize UA administrators to enter into negotiations to buy the Fayetteville High School campus.
An agenda addendum released Wednesday afternoon included a letter from Sugg recommending that the trustees’ Building and Grounds Committee approve a resolution offering to buy the property from the school district.
The resolution did not include a price the UA would be willing to pay, but Sugg wrote that Chancellor John A. White and Chancellor-designee G. David Gearhart, who succeeds White in July, will recommend a price at the meeting.
Gearhart couldn’t be reached for comment on the agenda item. Tyson Kendig, assistant vice chancellor for university relations, returned a message left for Gearhart.
On May 29, the Fayetteville Board of Education voted 6- 1 to offer to sell the 40-acre campus to the university for $ 59 million. The property includes the academic buildings, parking lots, athletic facilities, the district’s central administration offices and the former Boys & Girls Club building, which has been renovated and is now a multiuse facility for the district.
“ I request that Dr. White and Dr. Gearhart be given time during the meeting to present and discuss this proposal, ” Sugg wrote.
The school board’s offer to sell is seen as a means to help subsidize construction of a new high school at a new location. The board also authorized Superintendent Bobby New to begin negotiating the purchase of 73 acres along Morningside Drive for the new school.
The school board set July 1 as a deadline for a response to its offer.
The agenda for the trustees’ meeting was first released on Monday and did not include any items related to Fayetteville High School. The omission was blamed on overlap between the time the agenda was developed and when the school board made its decision.
The trustees will meet starting at 8: 30 a. m. Friday at the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute on Petit Jean Mountain near Morrilton.
The agenda change comes a day after state Sen. Sue Madison, D-Fayetteville, sent a letter to the trustees asking them not to buy the property.
Madison wrote that spending that much money on the purchase would not be a good investment during a time when state budgets are being cut. She expressed concern about the rising cost of tuition and the “ depressed ” salaries of faculty and staff. She also wrote that the buildings are not needed.
“ The Fayetteville High School property is not adjacent to the teaching or research areas of the campus, and the announced purchase price is only a fraction of the cost, ” she wrote. “ The buildings are not suitable for immediate use and will need considerable retrofitting at additional expense. ”
The high school property is located at 1000 West Stone Street, directly east of a UA softball stadium under construction. Ben Beaumont, spokesman for the UA president’s office, said Madison’s correspondence was the only letter the office had received about the issue from a legislator or citizen. Kendig said university officials appreciated Madison’s input and they were considering such factors. “ The points that she raises have been carefully considered throughout our evaluation of the property and will continue to be, ” he said, reading from a statement. “ We’ve been very careful to gather and process input such as this on both sides of the issue since the possibility of acquiring the high school property was first raised. ” In her letter, Madison didn’t address the potential benefits to the school district from the sale of the property. She said she considered that a separate issue.
“ I don’t think it’s the university’s job to bail out the Fayetteville School District, ” she said. “ I’m just worried about students at the university. ”
If the campus is really worth $ 59 million, then the school district should see if it can sell it on the open market, she said.
District officials based the estimate on two appraisals last year — one commissioned by the UA and the other by the school district — that valued the property at $ 56 million and $ 61 million, respectively.
Fayetteville Ward 2 Alderman Nancy Allen, who drafted a resolution last year recommending the school stay where it is, said Wednesday that she still stands by her resolution.
“ I like (Madison’s ) opinion, ” she said. “ I would think most university students would, too. ”
Ward 2 and Ward 1 each cover part of the high school campus. Ward 1 Alderman Adella Gray, though, said she would now support selling the current school and relocating FHS to Morningside Drive, which is in Ward 1.
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