School Board Still Looking at Lease for Old Toccoa HS Gym

The Stephens County Board of Education could make a decision this week on what to do with a long-term lease request.

In October, Evan Oglesby appeared before the school board and requested a 99-year lease of the old Toccoa High School gym on Pond Street in Toccoa.

Currently, Oglesby has a 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.

Last month, the school board voted to table the matter until the current lease expired, but Board Chair Dr. Elizabeth Pinkerton asked that it be discussed again and the school board talked about it Thursday at its work session.

Oglesby said he needs at least a 30 to 50 year lease.

He said he has already made numerous improvements to the gym and fields and wants to make more, adding the long-term lease helps protect his investment.

“It is a lot of money going into this place,” said Oglesby. “I do not want to get into a 10 year contract and have a new board say ‘Thank you for upgrading the facility, we are going to use it for this now.’.”

Oglesby said the school system, as it does now, would have access to the fields for Toccoa Elementary School.

He added he also has allowed the community to use the property for other events.

School board member Sandra Childs supports what Oglesby is doing and said she appreciates all he has done and continues to do.

“I want to thank you for hanging in there and trying to work with people here and just putting your best foot forward,” said Childs.

Meanwhile, school board member David Fricks said that while he supports Oglesby’s efforts, he has concerns about tying the school system into such a long lease.

“We are just trying to wrap our minds around what we can do because we do not want to tie another board up,” said Fricks.

Board of Education member Jim Ledford noted the school system’s financial situation and says that the property may be of other benefit to the school system, especially if it were to sell it, and has concerns about tying it up in a lease.

“We just got through telling the cannery we are going to have to cut and we do not have money,” said Ledford. “This property is probably worth $100,000 and $150,000 and we are going tie it up and give it away.”

The school board said it would continue the discussion of the matter at its regular meeting on Tuesday and consider taking a vote of some type on what to do.