School board action could be first step toward lease or purchase of Clinton Center

Posted June 14, 2017 at 9:17 am

The Clinton County School District is one step closer to acquiring a new and much needed facility to replace some older buildings and provide more space for operations.

The facility and property in question is the Clinton Center, known by most as the SCC-Clinton Center and negotiations are now underway with Somerset Community College for the “lease or purchase” of the building and property, located on Hwy. 90, west of Albany.

The initial talks between the district and SCC has apparently been ongoing for the past few months, but action taken by the Clinton County Board of Education during a special call meeting last Wednesday night, June 7 made those negotiations more or less official.

The board, with all members on hand, as well as board attorney Angie Capps, opened the meeting with an approximate half-hour session pursuant to KRS 61.810(1)(b) “to discuss the acquisition of real property, because publicity at this stage of the board’s discussion is believed likely to affect the value of the property.”

After returning to open session, a motion was made by board member Kevin Marcum, seconded by Jeff Sams, “to authorize Superintendent Charlotte Nasief the authority to negotiate the lease and/or purchase of the Clinton Center on Hwy. 90 from Somerset Community College.

The motion passed unanimously.

The ongoing talks between the school district and college was first made public at a board work session in May and was also the subject of board discussion at a call meeting later last month.

Because the matter is still in the negotiation stage only and no official agreements have been reached, no further details, including a price, is available. More details on the proposed purchase of the facility will be published when it becomes available and official.

The first time any kind of similar partnership between the Clinton County Schools and Somerset Community College Clinton Center was brought to light came during a September, 2016 joint meeting between those groups along with several other public officials.

During that meeting, a purchase or lease agreement was discussed as a part of an application that was being made by the Clinton County Schools toward a Kentucky Work Ready Skills Initiative, a program announced earlier last year by Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin and Workforce Development Secretary Hal Heiner.

That initial plan fell through when Clinton County was not awarded the grant funds it was seeking.

Following the motion to begin the lease/purchase negotiations at last week’s meeting, the board approved the meeting agenda and the session was adjourned.

The board is scheduled to hold its monthly work session Thursday, June 15 at 4:30 p.m. and its regular business meeting next Monday, June 19 at 5 p.m. Both sessions will be in the Central Office board room and both are open to the general public.