Pittsylvania County plans to auction the former Chatham Elementary School building to the highest bidder.
The board of supervisors, after coming out of closed session during its regular meeting Monday night, voted 5-2 to authorize the county administrator to send out a request for proposals from companies to auction off the former school.
Banister Supervisor Jessie Barksdale and Chatham-Blairs Supervisor Brenda Bowman opposed the motion.
Barksdale said he voted against the idea because the building could be auctioned off to someone out of the area who may not do anything with the building.
“It doesn’t solve the problem or fix the issue,” he said, adding that he did not want the structure to meet a fate similar to that of the former Spring Garden Elementary School, which is an eyesore.
Supervisors had considered upgrading the old Chatham Elementary School and moving its administrative offices there, but did not have the money to remodel it. The board rejected — by a 4-3 vote — in June 2008 a proposal to renovate the old school to house the county’s offices.
Supervisors voted in May 2009 to give the structure to the town of Chatham but rescinded its decision the following September after town officials failed to decide what to do with it. The board appointed a committee in the fall of 2009 to come up with a plan for the building on South Main Street in Chatham.
The board also voted in June to appropriate $5,000 for pre-titling and phase I environmental surveys on the building. A pre-titling survey is a legal title search to ensure there are no encumbrances against the property.
The county had been in talks with someone for the possibility of developing the structure. The property, which also includes about 10 acres, had been appraised at $227,500 in 2008, said County Administrator Dan Sleeper.
Callands-Gretna Supervisor Jerry Hagerman said he did not want to see the structure given away and the board wanted to make sure the county saw a return on the money spent to maintain the property.
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