A new purchase agreement and a request for a temporary injunction.
A new purchase agreement and a request for a temporary injunction.
City of Clarissa continues to fight sale of school property: New purchase agreement offered to Browerville District
by Marlo Benning
The City of Clarissa is continuing to work on halting the sale of the former school building from the Browerville School District to private buyer Barry Bauer. With this year’s Eagle Valley School dissolution, the school building, surrounding grounds and the baseball field became a part of the Browerville school’s property.
An offer was made to the city by the school to purchase the two parcels for $1. In July the city signed a purchase agreement, but a few months later after some resident outcry, the city did some investigation into the cost of maintenance of the building and made the decision in December not to purchase the building.
The school district then approved to list the school building portion with a realtor. They entered into a purchase agreement to sell the building property with Barry Bauer for $1.
City Attorney Joe Krueger explained the current status at a 9 a.m. meeting on Monday, January 29.
He said that the city has filed a lawsuit, a declaratory judgment action which has asked the court to determinate that the sale to Mr. Bauer was unauthorized by the school district because it was sold for nominal consideration of the price of one dollar.
They are asking the court if this can be considered a valid sale or not.
In the meantime, Krueger said that with a fast-approaching closing date of February 1, they have also filed the temporary injunction which means that until there can be a trial, the city wants the sale to be halted until it can be determined if it is a valid sale or not.
A motion hearing was set for that afternoon to determine if a temporary injunction is appropriate at this time.