The Culver Community Schools Corporation hopes to find a buyer for the Monterey School Building in the next month. The Culver School Board Thursday passed a resolution detailing the process of selling the building.
Interim Superintendent Chuck Kitchell says the corporation will accept bids on the property in a sort of open auction. “We are going to open [bidding] on September 23 and accept bids through October 7,” he says. “Those bids will be open for public inspection, and in fact what happens is if we get multiple bids, and the bid that comes in second is higher than the previous bid, we notify the previous bidder that there’s a higher bid, give the previous bidder the opportunity to change that person’s bid and back and forth and back and forth, until three o’clock on October 7, when we close the bidding process.”
Interested buyers will be able to obtain a bid packet on the corporation’s website or at the Culver Schools Administration Building. The property includes two parcels of land, including the land where the building itself sits, as well as the open piece of land to the south. Kitchell says the corporation has already heard from one potential buyer.
As the anticipated sale of the Monterey School Building approaches, the school corporation is also taking steps to get rid of some of the building’s equipment. As part of that effort, the school board approved a resolution to sell some of the former school’s cafeteria equipment.
Kitchell says the Knox Community School Corporation has expressed interest in the equipment, which it would use for a new culinary program. “We showed them equipment that we thought was usable, selling it as-is,” Kitchell said. “Obviously, some of that equipment has sat out there for five years now without anybody using it, although we did use some of the stuff in the kitchen as recently as a summer ago, when we were still serving summer lunches and breakfasts out there. So we’ve come to an agreement with Knox about some of the pieces of equipment and the cost.”
Additionally, the Monterey School Building has become a storage area for the corporation’s unused equipment over the last five years, according to Kitchell. “With the possibility of us selling that building, we probably want to bring some of that equipment back,” he said. “And then the next question is, what do we do with the equipment that we don’t want? I’m thinking we get out of that building anything that we want, that we think is of value, bring it back to here and store it. Anything else, we sell with the building when we sell the building. Whatever is left in the building is the new owner’s.” School board members raised no objections to Kitchell’s plan.
Stored in the building are chairs, desks, and tables that could be used in the future. However, Kitchell says the building also contains old lockers and other assorted items.
Kitchell says he plans to tour the site with the two building principals Friday to discuss what’s worth keeping and what isn’t. School board members also suggested giving teachers and other staff the opportunity to look through the building for equipment they may be able to use in their classrooms.
