| Publication:Northwest Arkansas Times; |
Date:Sep 21, 2007; |
Section:News; |
Page Number:1 |
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Jefferson group vows to stay on course BY BRETT BENNETT Northwest Arkansas Times
The board of directors for the startup Jefferson Center for Arts and Education group affirmed at a meeting Thursday evening that it is still committed to trying to raise money to acquire the former Jefferson Elementary School building in Fayetteville.
Board member Ralph Nesson reported the Wal-Mart Foundation had turned down a planning grant application the board submitted over the summer.
The board members present Thursday voted to hire back one-time consultant Leanne Baldwin to help them pursue other potential grant opportunities, although they have to contact her and negotiate a fee.
“I’m not ready to quit,” board member Cindy Arsaga said. “We’re better off than before we brought Leanne on.”
Baldwin had been working with the board this summer on a short-term contract.
Arsaga said she was pleased with some of her recommendations for going forward, which included contacting the University of Arkansas to commission an economic-impact study.
The group’s main idea for Jefferson is to develop it into a center that would house a variety of arts groups and service organizations. The building closed as a school in 2006.
However, the group does not currently have the money to buy the building, which the Fayetteville School District has estimated to be worth about $3 million.
The school is currently for sale by the school district.
Fayetteville Associate Superintendent Randy Willison said as of Thursday afternoon he had not received an offer to buy it but has shown it to a variety of interested parties.
Jefferson board member and Fayetteville Ward 1 Alderman Brenda Thiel inquired whether the board should look into using the former Mexican Original Plant on Huntsville Road for the arts. Arsaga and Nesson responded that the reason behind their efforts is to find a use for Jefferson.
“I’m here for that building,” Nesson said. “As far as my personal interest, it’s been toward using that historical building for the community good.”
“I still think this is a good idea,” Arsaga said. “I think all we need to do is get over this last hurdle.”
The school board granted the group first right of refusal to buy the building in April after lease talks broke down following months of negotiations. The right of refusal gives the group 30 days to match any offer the school board might receive to buy the building.
Lease negotiations broke down in large part because the group said it couldn’t afford the district’s lease rates, and the school board, following the advice of school attorney Rudy Moore Jr., said it had to rent the facility at a market rate of $8 per square foot annually.
Treasurer Liz Knight reported the group had a bank balance of just less than $3,000. Most of the funds have been raised from local individuals supporting the group’s efforts.
Nesson said Thursday the district should have known a nonprofit organization would not be capable of leasing the building on those terms.
“They knew from the very beginning that they would have to charge much more than we could ever afford,” he said.
“I don’t think it was necessarily disingenuous,” Arsaga said. “Really, when it got down to it, they never intended for us to get a cheap deal on it. Maybe they thought they could.”
Arsaga added that with all the renovation the building would need for use as the Jefferson Center, it wouldn’t be worth leasing the facility.
The board also discussed the need to find some new board members and develop a Web site.
$65, 4 weeks
