T-R PHOTO BY JONATHAN MEYER Toledo Mayor Brian Sokol’s comments supplemented a letter he sent last Friday that urged the school board to table the sale of property.

TAMA – With the potential sale of the former middle school looming, the STC board room was full for Monday’s meeting. Nearly 40 community members were present, and more joined via Google Meet when the STC school board voted unanimously to table the potential sale of three parcels of land to Southfork Premier Properties LLC.

During the three public hearings around the sale of district property, many community members voiced their opinions.

Kristen Donald shared her desire for all avenues to be explored by both the school district and city before a decision is made. Toledo City Council member Cathy Cook read a prepared statement, sharing how the sale “deeply concerns” her, expressing that the city does not want the property to end being a problem. Cook also shared her doubts about the potential buyer and the lack of promise provided to the community.

Karen Murty shared that she feared the old middle school would turn out like the hospital in Marshalltown.

Jess Manful reminded the board of the legacy they leave with this incoming decision, while Shane Manfull said the loss of gym space would be bad for the community.

“It seems to me like this shell company he’s created is being used to transfer funds of his main company to show that it doesn’t make as much money,” he said.

Jim Roan was one of the first community members to speak and shared some of his longtime knowledge of the district. He shared that he was a school board attorney for 25 years as well as city attorney for many small Tama County towns.

“I’ll be very honest with you. I don’t think the school board has done their due diligence in connection with the sale of these properties,” he said. “By the way I have a question to ask you, Where is your buyer? Is he here tonight?”

With an audible no from Board President Elizabeth Dolezal, Roan shared that the community should meet with him and be able to learn more information.

Toledo Mayor Brian Sokol shared that he sent out a letter to the board and school district, urging the board to halt or pause the sale. Sokol started by saying the communication between the city and school district was great, but contacting the developer did not bear the same results.

“If we can get this end user to town, it won’t be first class, but I will personally pay for his plane ticket to get here,” Sokol said.

Toledo Economic Development Director Katherine Ollendieck reflected on the multi-year process of turning the vacant Iowa Juvenile Home into the STC Middle School. Drawing from her time as Tama County Economic Development Director, she reminded the board of that project to help inform their decision.

“I caution you to not move forward tonight, to take a pause. To continue to work with us, to see if we can’t find out more about the buyer and if we can’t then let’s look for a logical step forward,” she said.

Erica Swanger was another citizen who got up to speak during the public hearing. Erica stated that she lives and has grown up in the area, also that she is a local volleyball coach who utilizes the gym space in the old middle school a minimum of three days a week. Erica stated that the email from the possible end user, Mike Kovalerchik, that was published on the Tama-Toledo News Chronicle’s website on Thursday, Nov. 20, “was a huge red flag” for her.

STC Superintendent John Cain inquired of Swanger what exactly was it about or in the letter that was a red flag.

“Well, it looked like a third grader wrote it,” she replied.

Ollendieck and Cain both then talked about how there is a bit of a language barrier as English is the end user’s second language.

“Even beyond the grammar, the anger that came back at us from that email was a huge red flag,” Ollendieck said.

Cain contended that the article about the history of the buyers in last week’s newspaper was only “half the story” with the sale.

“We have found (that) our local journalists, you know, they do a nice job, but I’m a little concerned in the tone of the articles. They’re rather negative towards the school district, and we want the school district and the community to work together,” Cain said. “Another example of that is we are elected officials, we are community members of the board, we’re unpaid. And our news reporters went after one of our school board members when she lost her son. Why isn’t she at the board meeting? Why isn’t she at the board meeting? That’s insensitive, and time to learn from our mistakes; we all make mistakes. And I just think you need to.”

Dolezal interrupted Cain briefly, saying simply, “stay on topic.” Cain finished his statement saying, “continue to work on the tone for the community because we’re representing the children.”

The newspaper routinely lists, in any article about a board meeting, who was present and who was absent among the board members. Cain then went back to talking about the possible sale of the old middle school.

“The title in the newspaper was ‘Nightmare on Green Street?’ Have you heard of the nightmare on 203 East Maple Street, Prairieville, Missouri? Probably not because it’s one of the buyer’s success stories. Did you hear about the nightmare on 1200 North Park Street in Fairmont, Minnesota? Probably not because it’s a rise academy, one of the buyers success stories. Have you heard about the nightmare on 324 North Queen Street in Nashville, Michigan? Probably not because it’s the village flats and yet another success story of the buyer. Have you heard about the nightmare on 135 Township Road? The sequel, the nightmare, probably not, because it’s another success story that our buyer has,” Cain said.

Cain went on to talk about how the sale is a big decision and a risk.

“Our buyer has just as many successes as he’s had failures, and he’s hitting just under 50 percent with his successes and fails,” he said.

Roan spoke up to ask Cain to repeat himself as he was explaining the details of the contract. After listening to Cain, Roan had a few more questions, and not just for Mr. Cain. Roan spoke across the room to ask Toledo City Attorney Michael Marquess whether or not he had seen the contracts in question. Dolezal put a stop to the talking, as Roan stated he was just trying to ask Marquess a question.

“Let’s be respectful,” Dolezal said.

She went on to say that it was not public comment time nor an open discussion. She gave the floor back to Cain, who then asked Toledo Police Chief Dan Quigley for his assistance if there was another problem. Roan remained silent as the meeting continued on.

After all three public hearings were opened and closed, the board voted to table the sale.

During the regularly scheduled board meeting, Danya Keahna was sworn in as STC District 4’s representative after winning via write-in votes, on November 4. To the knowledge of the school district, Keahna is the first member of the Meskwaki Nation to serve on the school board.