The Flagler County School Board and the Flagler County Commission are preparing to sign a joint agreement that will lease the old courthouse in Bunnell to the district for just two years, with two options to renew for five years each, and an option to buy. Some school board members have reservations about the building’s quality, but will not stand in the way of approving the lease.
The district will use the building’s three floors for more than half a dozen specialized programs currently scattered on campuses around the county, but not for regular, traditional schooling.
Monthly rent has yet to be determined. The district’s facilities director has previously estimated monthly rent at $7,676 plus $10,000 a month in utilities, or $212,000, plus $635,000 in up-front renovation costs. The district has included that larger sum in the first year of its current five-year capital improvement plan.
The Flagler Historical Society would potentially be granted some 800 square feet on the first floor of the older part of the 50,000 square foot building, either for storage or for exhibits. The area would be sealed off from the school functions, and if members of the public would visit, it would have to be by appointment, Operations Director Dave Freeman said.
The society had had more ambitious hopes for space at the courthouse, being a natural extension of its presence at Holden House, the historic house across the street, itself part of a property that includes the society’s archives. The society scaled back its ambition after the district supplanted its hopes by starting negotiations with the county.
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Freeman last week revealed that SMA’s Flagler Access Center for Mental Health currently occupying the 4,900 square foot building at 103 East Moody Boulevard–the old post office building near the courthouse–may at some point be vacated. “As soon as they build another space for that organization, the county is looking at that being a potential place for the Historical Society,” Freeman said. (The SMA space had previously been the home of Sally’s Safe Haven, the county’s only location where parents with custodial restrictions could meet or spend time in supervised visits with their children. The county did not find a different place for the haven, which was unceremoniously shuttered to make room for SMA.)
Some School Board members have reservations about the courthouse building. Sally Hunt considers it a “great” building, but not good enough for Flagler schools. “To me, it’s not 100 percent on brand with what I would want representing Flagler schools from a, if nothing else, kind of an aesthetic perspective,” Hunt said. “If we are using it for even two years, that’s two years where we have our students and our staff using this building where floor tiles are peeling up, and there’s a lot of spaces there that are admittedly pretty rough. And so, you know, my preference would be from day one our students and staff are in a building that they are proud of and is on par with our other buildings.”
But that would be expensive, she said, before conceding: “Once some fresh paint gets put in there, and it’s filled with Flagler love and Flatter forward energy, it’s going to be a great place.”
Will Furry, a Realtor who chairs the school board, was not thrilled about the society using the building–unless there were no specific uses for those 800 square feet.
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He was also concerned about the building’s quality, but saw the limited lease terms as putting the district “in a better position to mitigate risk.” He was also concerned about the historic facade. “The only other concern, personally in the lease, that is, is what our obligation would be for maintaining its historical value in the facade out front, just again, that can get very expensive, and that’s just only a concern. I think it’s wonderful that we preserve, but on whose dime? and that’s really what I would be concerned about.” Furry must not have understood that part of the lease concerning the facade, which is not the district’s responsibility. The county is still responsible for maintaining it. “The District shall not make alterations to the historical façade of the Historic Courthouse,” the lease states (emphasis added), “and any work done on the façade shall require the prior written approval of the County.”
Furry appeared comfortable with the short term of the lease. “In two years, we could assess, you know, if it’s viable for us,” Furry said. “Because, again, it is an old building, and we’re a school that is advancing in technology, and our needs are getting more technological, and an old building may not facilitate, you know, that future. It may serve our need for a while, but in the end, maybe we move on to somewhere else, and this becomes a museum one day, right?”
The two-year lease term is reflective of the district’s own hesitancy to occupy a building with a checkered history. (See a photo gallery here, before it was renovated in 2015.) The city of Bunnell at one point had been gifted the building by the county, only to reject it out of liability fears. (See: “No Thanks: Bunnell Votes 4-1 to Return Old Courthouse to the County, Citing Costs and Liabilities.”)
“We believe that we are getting a good building, and we had a very good report for indoor air quality,” Freeman said. “So our two-year lease was just something that we felt was a wise move to just being able to figure out what those maintenance needs were.”
Furry was worried that rental costs might be higher than $8,000–the figure Operations Director Dave Freeman said was the rent the previous tenant was paying “for years.” According to the lease provided by the county in May, First Baptist Academy, the Christian school that has rented the building since 2015, started at $3,000 for a few months, then $6,000 starting in August 2015, and $7,000 in 2017, with no additional increases since–at least not according to the document the county provided. In 2015, the county had also agreed to spend up to $375,000 to renovate the building for the school. That amount was ostensibly defrayed by a 30-year, interest-free loan to the school, while the school said it invested $650,000 in the building.
The academy is moving to a new campus in Palm Coast. First Baptist Christian Academy is among the private schools whose students are eligible to receive up to $8,000 per student in tax dollars–money siphoned out of the Flagler County school district to subsidize the private school. One of the reasons the district needs the space at the courthouse is to save money on portables and free up classroom space within budget constraints resulting, at least in part, from losing money to private subsidies.
First Baptist–“Raising Champions for Christ”–is one of 16 private schools in Flagler County alone that the state itself advertises to parents as options to leave the district. (See: “Flagler Schools Losing $10.8 Million to Pay for 1,250 Students to Attend Private, Religious or Home School.”)
The School Board is expected to approve the leas agreement next Tuesday. The agreement is not on the County Commission’s agenda on Monday. Last week the commission directed County Administrator Heidi Petito to negotiate rental and maintenance costs. Petito said today she was still working with school board staff on options that would “include the cost of insurance, utilities, monthly maintenance, etc.,” but didn’t yet have a final number to share just yet.
The agreement includes an option in the future for the district to assume all maintenance costs in exchange for a lowering of rent, and an option for the district to buy the 54,000 square foot building in two years. Whatever happens, the property will be deed-restricted both for public purposes and to preserve the historic facade of the courthouse, which was built almost 100 years ago.
Joseph Barand says
Once again the Commissioners show how stupid they are. $650,000 in renovations, will only be the tip of the iceberg. Then renting for $8,000 month means the county will loose $25000 per month. How much has been spent on renovations and maintenance since the new court house was built, my guess is several million including a new roof, HVAC, etc. We need to pass an plain and simple law, the commissioners cannot negotiate and lease or sale of County propery
Deborah Coffey says
Such incompetence on this School Board!
Flagler Parent says
Lets correct this matter. The Flagler County School District’s are not losing 8k per student, because students choose to go to a Christian school or private school. That money is only allocated to the schools IF the student chooses to attend Flagler County schools. If they are enrolled at a PS then the school gets funded, if not then money isn’t removed. The money follows the child, not the school. So if a student is homeschooled it doesn’t come out of school budget, because the student never attended there.
Maybe the schools should work on creating new programs & really re-invent themselves. People are finding other schools and homeschooling a better option. This is just a sign of the times.
I just dont think it’s fair to portray private and HS students as “stealing” from the coffers of the Districts budget. I was told personally the money follows the child and doesn’t impact the district.
FlaglerLive says
The commenter is incorrect. While some students who were attending private school regardless are now benefiting from the state dollars, the majority of students enrolling in the program are exiting the public school system to take advantage of the public subsidies for private education, and in both cases, the money the state is allocating to private subsidies is money directly siphoned out of the public education system. It is taxpayer money that taxpayers were not providing as subsidies previously, and that would have, or should have, been allocated to traditional public schools otherwise. The “money follows the child and doesn’t impact the district” is a fabrication intended to justify a system that demonstrably is, in fact, taking money away from the public education system. It is good propaganda–and disinformation. It is not fact.
Ed P says
Just wondering, what’s the answer to correct the situation?
Simply take funding away from home schoolers or private schools to force participants into the system?
The current public education system is and has been failing for decades. A one size fits all approach does not work. Leave no student behind is a farce.
And finally, when did any government run program ever out perform privatized enterprise?
Ray W. says
Hello Ed P.
Picture WWII.
Our government coordinated and supervised putting 15 million men and women in uniform. It marshalled the industrial capacity to build over 50,000 tanks, 115 aircraft carriers of all types, 100,000 aircraft of all types in 1944 alone, thousands of landing craft, thousands of merchant ships, thousands of warships, amidst a plethora of other demands. Private enterprise, marshalled by the managing and supervising government, put the plans into process. Factory managers and businessmen, too important to be drafted, left their employers and signed contracts with the government, offering their expertise; they were called “dollar-a-year” men. I am fond of the story I read in my childhood about the military releasing specifications for a new pursuit plane. 91 days later, the prototype P-51 took to the skies.
Of course, government can outperform private enterprise in the overall management of a war effort, if the political will to set aside bickering occurs, and if the populace buys into the national need.
Please consider this idea. I agree with you that in most situations, private enterprise, adopting an enlightened form of capitalist thought, will outperform government. But does that prove that government is bad or simply less good than private enterprise? Would we trust private enterprise to manage and supervise construction of an entire interstate highway system? Of course not. How about prioritizing the widening and deepening of channels in those few ports chosen to handle the new model of supertankers that use the Panamanian governmentally organized widening of the Panama Canal. We can’t even get private enterprise to cap abandoned oil wells despite the obvious pollution a leaking uncapped well can cause!
Of course, government can manage many things in some cases better than can private enterprise. And in some instances where private enterprise outpaces government, the government is not far behind. But, sometimes, government sucks.
If one lives in a perfect or bad world, you, Ed P, are right most of the time. If one lives in a good, better, best/bad, worse, worst world, you can be right and wrong at the same time.
Oy, vey!
As an aside, at one point in time, the beleaguered Soviet Army faced 175 German divisions. Outclassed in equipment, including aircraft, the communist system defeated the greatest military power in the world. Our 90-division broad front strategy in northern France never faced that type of opposition. The Soviet Army lost tens of millions of soldiers, but they won. Our manufacturing capacity enabled their victory, but even a communist system, brutal in theory and effect, can defeat the private enterprise of a National Socialist state that freely used slavery to improve efficiencies. Historians agree that after the victory at Midway, the Soviets transferred millions of experienced soldiers from Siberian armies facing Japanese soldiers in Manchuria to Stalingrad. When the winter battle overwhelmed the Axis army and surrounded Stalingrad, it also cut off the rail lines linking the oil fields in the Caucasus to Germany, trapping an estimated six months of German industrial output behind enemy lines.
As another aside, postwar Japan, industries demolished and an economy collapsed, faced chaos in the personal transportation sector. Years ago, I read a doctoral thesis about the emergence of the Japanese motorcycle industry, in which the doctoral student listed some 150 competing motorcycle manufacturers. Bankruptcies were rampant. People investing life savings in emerging companies lost everything. Unbridled private enterprise was destroying an entire critical facet of an economy. The government sponsored five motorcycle races (road race, hill climb, cross-country, city, and mileage competitions), with the five companies accumulating the most success receiving government grants to expand and modernize their manufacturing methods. We know these companies today as Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Yamaha and Bridgestone, the tire giant.
Make of this what you will.
Deborah Coffey says
First of all, the current public education system isn’t failing and has not been failing for decades. This is just one of the barrage of right wing lies. And, if you think Social Security, a government run program, doesn’t work well, then don’t accept yours and don’t take Medicare, either. BTW, hundreds of government run programs have way outperformed private enterprise. But, it takes serious citizenship to Google reports, read them, and to search for TRUTH!
can'tfoolme says
Howcver, those of us who paid years of tuition so that our children could attend a private school or be homeschooled, were still stuck with also paying to support the public schools (as are the elderly or childless). I see this long needed help for charter/private schools as a sort of long overdue balancing of fairness for those who have for so many years paid to educate not only their own children but public school students also. As so many of your commentors on various articles proclaim “choice is a right and diversity is preferred”.
Deborah Coffey says
Total BS and right wing propaganda. ie. lies
K patton says
People it is a danger to everyone!
There is a reason Bunnell gave it back !
There firm that they hired reported the building should be condemned!
Check the paint ! Check the high lead count coming out the water tap !
HVAC is sub par sweating and causing mold !
To top it off why is the old Bld separating from the new? Why are the cables that the county paid to in the attic not supporting the buildings because the Bld is failing !
Why is there cracks in the stairwells with measuring devices attached to wall monitoring the separation?
Let’s not get started on the air quality that comes from the old ventilation system just a hole cut in the floor going up through the roof to let hot air rise.
The problem with this is the mold growth under the building!
What about the led paint that has never been removed or the Asbestos plumbing wrap and flooring mastic?
So yes if you want your children to develop cancer , allergies and or just be sick all the time send them to the old court house ! School board beware the county has been passing the building off for yrs !
Just ask the sheriff about his old building!