BOE Discusses Lease of Old Toccoa High Gym

The Stephens County Board of Education tables a request from Evan Oglesby to extend his lease with the school system for the old Toccoa High School gym on Pond Street in Toccoa for a longer term.

Last month, Oglesby appeared before the school board and requested a 99-year lease of the gym.

Oglesby has a current lease with the school system through December 2016 at the cost of a dollar for him to use the gym for his E.O. Foundation Center.

He said a long-term lease like that would help him in efforts to get grants for his center.

Stephens County School Superintendent Bryan Dorsey said, however, that a school system can only do a 50-year lease, must ask for fair market value, and be able to claim property as unnecessary in order to lease it.

Board of Education member Sandra Childs said she supports leasing him the property for a long term.

“He has done wonders for that building over there,” said Childs. “He serves the whole system and we are not, to my knowledge, going to need that building.”

However, not all board members agree.

Board member Jim Ledford said he does not want to tie the property up in a long-term lease of 50 years.

Board of Education members had asked Dorsey to find out if a shorter lease was adequate.

Dorsey said Oglesby told him that would not work.

“He said that in his opinion, a 5 or 10 year lease was not going to resolve anything for him,” said Dorsey.

With a lease in place, Board of Education member Tony Crunkleton suggested putting the issue aside for now.

“Leave it as it is,” said Crunkleton. “Table it until the lease runs out.”

The board voted to table the matter until closer to when the current lease expires.