The Sedona-Oak Creek School District Governing Board voted unanimously during its March 5 meeting to direct Superintendent Tom Swaninger to research placing the district’s ability to sell the shuttered Big Park Community School to a private party on the ballot for the November election.

For the previous story about this ongoing matter click here.

“One thing that I do not have in common with everyone in this audience, I have a child in this district, and my son has been in all three campuses,” Heather Hermen, the Scorpion Booster Club president and former SOCSD board member, said during public comment. “I have had the privilege of fundraising in all three of those campuses and we just had our Casino Night [Fundraiser] on Feb. 10, and raised $50,000 … thanks to our community. [But] the one thing that I’m tired of is raising money for our district, and I believe that the sale of Big Park could help us.”

Structure

The district is seeking the ability to sell the property to a private party due to a lack of sustained interest by the Yavapai County Board of Supervisors in purchasing the site and the financial risk of holding onto the property. The window to place an initiative on the 2024 ballot is also closing.

While SOCSD previously approved a nonbinding letter of intent written by Yavapai County Supervisor Donna Michaels [D-District 3] for the county to take over the campus, the board of supervisors has so far failed to take any action on Michaels’ proposal.

“The ball is in the county’s court and has been there for [nearly] a year,” SOCSD Governing Board President Randy Hawley said in a statement. “We have communicated regularly with Dr. Michaels asking for the county to submit a proposal to us so that the district can review [it] in order to move forward with the lease-to-purchase.”

The Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office does have an interest in using the property as a substation, with Sheriff David Rhodes taking part in several meetings and tours of the property organized by Michaels.

SOCSD has “communicated with YCSO representatives providing rental information — no further action has been taken that I am aware of,” Swaninger said. 

“YCSO needs to have workspaces that allow our deputies and detectives to conduct their administrative duties in the VOC,”  Sgt. John Johnson said in an email. “They need to be able to interview victims, witnesses, and suspects in criminal investigations. YCSO needs to continue to offer a dump the drugs box in the substation. YCSO needs to have a meeting space to conduct internal and external meetings with employees other agencies and community stakeholders. YCSO also needs additional space for our SAR volunteers, notably Verde Search and Rescue, to conduct meetings and training and store life-saving equipment.”

On June 21, the Board of Supervisors approved a nearly $500,000 contract with the architecture firm Gensler to conduct a county-wide study to evaluate all of the county government’s building space needs, and the board has deferred consideration of Michaels’ proposal until the completion of the study.

“That space study should be completed by the end of this month, and at that time, we will be able to align what the county can do, and the negotiations or the conversations can begin,” Michaels said during a Yavapai County Open House at the Sedona Public Library in the Village on Feb. 27. “There’s been no discussion about price, which, of course, I would hope will come to us, and a structure or a plan or an idea from the school system. But until that happens, and until our space study report is completed, that indicates that this is as we most of us believe [this] is a viable option to bring community services.”

According to Michaels’ letter of intent, estimating the value of the property would be either her responsibility or the county’s. The letter states that the “applicant will be responsible for the cost of appraisal.” Michaels is currently the sole applicant unless her letter is approved by the Board of Supervisors.

Timelines

The county has received a draft of the space study that is currently under review by Yavapai County Manager Maury Thompson and Yavapai County Facilities Director Brandon Shoults. “We expect another 30 days of going back and forth with the contractor … within 30 days, we’ll have it back to [Gensler] so that they can take it and put the final polish on it, and hopefully within the next 60 days [we’ll] have a complete product,” Board of Supervisors public information officer David McAtee said on Friday, March 8.

SOCSD’s deadline to place an item on the November ballot is Monday, June 10.

“The county’s ‘hopeful’ timeline does not allow enough space for us to table the discussion for any length of time,” Swaninger said. “Additionally, we have received little to no indication that the entirety of the board of supervisors is interested in purchasing or even leasing the property. It is important to note that if we are presented with a proposal to lease or purchase the property that our school board may elect to pursue and finalize that proposal, regardless of where we are in the process of potentially placing this topic on the ballot.”

Price

“In January SOCSD received a proposed waiver from Deputy Yavapai County Attorney Benjamin D. Kreutzbergis,” Swaninger said. “This waiver would [have given] permission for Yavapai County to include Big Park in their property and building [study]. In this proposal, the county would pay for this work in whole.

“I was in favor of this proposed waiver and originally placed its approval of this waiver on the February [SOCSD] Governing Board agenda. Board approval from both the SOCSD Governing Board as well as from the county Board of Supervisors would allow both parties to obtain an assessed value of the Big Park property, potentially moving Supervisor Michaels’ proposal forward. On Jan. 17 [the] Yavapai County Board of Supervisors then elected to table the proposed waiver indefinitely, indicating a lack of interest in the property as a whole.”

McAtee has said that not including the Big Park campus in the study does not preclude the Board of Supervisors from eventually voting on the proposal to purchase it.

However, Swaninger stated that not including it in the study showed a lack of interest by the board of supervisors.

“The district liked the original plan that Dr. Michaels presented to the board and we are waiting for the county to submit a proposal and sign a lease to buy agreement,” Hawley said in a statement. “It is not the responsibility of the school system to structure a plan or idea about the project. That is the county’s responsibility and we have communicated that to Dr. Michaels but have not received anything in response.”

“If we have results, and can sit down and talk with them, and have board approval to move forward with a price, which we don’t have yet — when we have those variables, we can have a conversation,” Michaels said during the open house. “I think there’s no reason not to believe that we could reach a pretty quick decision … But we have to wait to see if we can negotiate a price that’s going to make them whole and be practical and prudent with your tax dollars.”

Special District

Another option for the campus was suggested by Tom Binnings, a member of the executive board of the Verde Valley Regional Economic Organization, who suggested the creation of a special taxing district for the property and converting all or part of the campus into a community center.

Binning’s proposal would require both a vote by the SOCSD Governing Board to allow the school to sell the property, and a vote of the residents within the boundaries of the hypothetical special district to authorize its creation and taxing authority.

The board of VVREO will hold its April meeting at the Big Park Community School, at which time an attorney with experience in special districts will discuss the feasibility of the idea with the group and the nonprofit Big Park Regional Coordinating Council. Binnings will also present his proposal during the BPRCC meeting Thursday, March 14.

Leases

The school board renewed the leases for SummitLife and Science of the Soul at the West Sedona Campus as well as the Christian Faith Fellowship at the Big Park campus during the meeting. 

“[Director of Operations] Jennifer Chilton noted that all of the leases on the agenda are renewals and unchanged,” the draft board minutes stated. “[Chilton] feels comfortable renewing all leases, even at Big Park campus, since any sale of the property would be a lengthy process.”

School Board Elections

Regardless of how the option to sell discussion goes forward, there will be a contested election for the governing board in November. Hawley has decided to run after being undecided joining David Price and April Payne in seeking reelection with soon-to-be former SOCSD soccer coach Sam Blom also filing a statement of interest with the Yavapai County Education Service Agency.   

For more information on how to run for the school board visit ycesa.com/election-services.

The closing minutes of the meeting were focused on early discussions about holding meetings in the VOC to further talk about the future of the former Big Park Community School. The next meeting of the SOCSD Governing Board will be Tuesday, April 2, at 4 p.m. at the Sedona Performing Arts Center.