2 bids made for former Otsego school site

12/10/2008

TONTOGANY - Otsego Local Schools was offered two bids from the village of Grand Rapids and a private developer on Monday for the former Grand Rapids Middle School property.

The district's Board of Education set a minimum bid of $50,000, Superintendent Jim Garber said.

The village bid $55,000 for the the two-acre parcel at Bridge and Second streets, which was appraised at $140,000 in March of last year.

Grand Rapids Village Administrator Chad Hoffman declined to share the village's intentions for the property, saying official discussions of the purchase have been in executive session.

Grand Rapids resident Chester Vollmar, who said he has managed residential rental properties for 30 years, bid the minimum for the property. If declared the winning bidder, Mr. Vollmar would develop the property into single-family homes, he said.

The district's board of education will meet at 7 a.m. Friday to consider both bids, the superintendent said.

The middle school was demolished over the summer at a cost of $88,000. The old high school in Tontogany became the new middle school, and is now called the junior high, housing grades seven and eight. It adjoins the district's new high school.

Sale proceeds will go into the school district's general fund. The district has sliced $900,000 from its operating budget this year and projects an $800,000 deficit in 2011; $500,000 more in cuts is planned for next year.