(Milford)– A petition drive has been mounted concerning the sale of the Okoboji Middle School in Arnolds Park. One of the authors of the petition, Dan Croft, tells KUOO news it’s based on a provision they found in Iowa Code…
“It appears to be a checks and balances provision whereby if the voters in the community, the district, within that 10 day period obtains the proper number of signatures on a petition, then it can basically cause the issue to be put to the voters to decide. And so that’s really what we’re trying to accomplish. It’s just to say, you know, we think because of fiscal responsibility of the school board, that this is something, you know, that we should try to make sure we’re getting the best and highest possible price for that property and to minimize the impact of this bond issue as much as possible on the taxpayers. And that’s it. We’re not challenging their authority to have done it. It’s clearly legal. We just would like to see it go through a public bid process that’s fair and results in the highest price possible.”
The Okoboji School board voted 3-2 at a special meeting earlier this month to sell the property to Imagine Iowa Great Lakes at the appraised price of $1.1 million, even though a second offer of slightly more than that had also been received.
Another person behind the petition drive, lakes area businessman Tom Clary, feels getting the best price possible for the best plans for use of the land is in the best interest of the taxpayers of the Okoboji Community School District. He says it would go further toward buying down some of the $25 million bond issue that was passed back in April for a new middle school and some maintenance projects…
“You know there’s a lot of people that aren’t going to have a clue about what’s that all about until they get their tax bill. I’ve already had people, customers of mine on the lake, saying you know, I calculated what that’s going to cost me and I can’t believe that.”
You can find more information regarding the petition through a link on the home page of exploreokoboji.com.
Recent Comments