The White County School Board will draw up a five-year lease for the BonDeCroft Volunteer Fire Department as well as other fire stations located on school district property.
The BonDeCroft Volunteer Fire Department has been pursuing a grant to improve the station. The station could not qualify because it does not own the property. After several months of trying to resolve the issue, School Board Chairman Bob Young said the school board will draw up a lease as a temporary solution.
“A lease is obviously an official document, and with that in place, that should give them enough to go in and then do the type of grant applications that they are wanting to do to improve their facilities,” Young said.
BonDeCroft Fire Chief Shannon Smith declined to comment on the matter. It is still unclear if the school board has intentions to eventually deed the property over to the fire department.
“That was not what was discussed tonight,” Young said. “So I think right now, just dealing with what is on the table tonight is trying to find a lease and establishing that.”
Young said the school system is still working to sort out the deeds to see what can be done. Young said he believes the school board is working diligently with the fire departments throughout the process. Director of Schools Kurt Dronebarger said the other school properties that have a fire station on them are Cassville Elementary and Central View Elementary.
The board asked if a monetary amount was required for a lease agreement. Young said he was unsure.
“My thoughts behind that there’s no monetary exchange,” Young said. “I’m not sure from a lease standpoint, I’m not sure there has to be a monetary amount, but if it was, I would recommend that it would not be more than $1 for the five years. That would be 20 cents a year.”
School Board Member Jayson McDonald said he would pay the 20 cents a year if needed. Young said he expects to have a lease ready for approval in January.
