By PETER HUSSMANN
The Newton Community School District's Board of Education on Monday agreed to lease the library at Emerson Hough Elementary to the local Area Education Agency beginning Monday.
The five-year lease, with two options to extend the contract for an additional five years, requires the AEA to pay the school district $3 per square foot for the 3,790 square foot library space. The monthly charge will be $947.50.
The school district will pay utility costs and provide routine janitorial services, including weekly vacuuming and emptying of waste baskets. Snow removal and lawn care is also included as part of the rent. The AEA will be required to pay for telephone and internet services.
Increases in the rent cost will be negotiated based on increases in the costs of utilities at the conclusion of any five-year term.
The AEA's use of the former elementary school library facility follows the school board's decision last March to close the structure as an attendance center. In doing so, however, the board decided to maintain the building and seek other uses for the facility.
In addition to the AEA, the school district plans to use the north end of the facility to house the Head Start and its new early childhood education programs.
The lease agreement also contains language concerning the pending Emerson Hough school closure appeal. Should the school district be required to reopen Emerson Hough as an educational center, the lease states the school district will find "alternative suitable space" within the school owned properties to relocate the AEA office. The lease states the school district will pay all costs associated with such a relocation. A hearing on the matter is currently scheduled to begin Aug. 26 in Des Moines.
The lease rate the AEA will pay the school district is significantly lower than the cost they currently pay at a privately-owned office building in the 300 block of First Street South. AEA officials say they are currently paying $7 per square foot for that leased office space.
The Newton school district rents space at the DMACC campus for its Basics and Beyond alternative high school program. The district pays a total of $9.25 per square foot for the 4,296 square feet it occupies. Including a $1,000 yearly phone charge, the rent the district pays DMACC is $40,738 per year or $3,394.83 per month.
The Jasper County Extension Service, a quasi-governmental agency, also rents space at DMACC. Its cost is $12 per square foot for the 2,000 square feet it occupies.
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