By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Last month, USD 431 Hoisington announced a tentative Oct. 1 groundbreaking ceremony date for the new childcare facility, which will be located behind Roosevelt Elementary School where a modular building used to be positioned. During Monday's board of education meeting, Superintendent Patrick Crowdis offered the board a first reading of the contract with Advancing Barton County Childcare (ABCC) regarding the location of the new facility.
"We will be asking ABCC to pay us a dollar lease every year just because that's just legalese of having a contract," Crowdis said. "Other than that, they will take care of their own insurance, their own utilities. The building itself will be independent of us."
The primary purpose of that contract is to establish USD 431 as owners of the property on which the facility will sit. Crowdis said the contract also included various custodial items that were not set in stone. Monday's first read still allows time for board comments and suggestions.
"There is a portion of this that does go into if the daycare, or if ABCC were to close this facility, the district would have the right of first refusal," said Crowdis. "It would be appraised. We would have the right to then purchase that building for fair-market value simply because it does sit on our facilities."
Last month, Crowdis updated the board on the capacity of the facility. Originally expected to serve 59 children but funding cuts at the state level may reduce that figure to 38 children.