Site of old South Tama Primary. News-Herald/John Speer

Sale of the former South Tama Elementary School location in the 800 block of State Street and a lot adjacent on 9th Street in Tama was the subject of a pubic hearing on Monday, May 4.

Platinum Development, Marion, was seeking to buy the vacant lots as the site for eight, four-unit residential properties.

The 9th Street property would be used for construction of garages for the complex.

Barry Smith, representing the development company, said the units would be 1,060 sq. ft. with two bedrooms and one bath in each rental.

Platinum Development proposed to purchase the properties for one dollar.

No public comments were heard during the hearing.

School board members Michelle Yuska, Mark McFate, Alan Kline, and Anne Michael voted to approve the sale. Member Jackie Dvorak was absent.

Preliminary drawings showed eight residential buildings and 30 garage stalls on both parcels. These figures would be adjusted if necessary after the site is engineered and a Platinum Development representative submits the engineered plans to the City of Tama for approval.

The plans presented may have to be revised once the site is engineered and the underground utilities are located.

Platinum Development would construct the buildings, then turn them over to their management company, Mirage Properties, for leasing and property management. Mirage Properties offers market rate units, with over 2,800 units.

They do not have any low income units. Mirage Properties have the management and marketing in place with on-site full time maintenance staff at most of their neighborhoods They have the construction knowledge and background to deliver an efficient, low maintenance building to their customers. hey say they also have the need to assure customer satisfaction to build a good client base.

Platinum Development projected this proposal should add at least 32 families to the community and in turn should help promote the growth of the retail and office base.

Board members and Superintendent Kerri Nelson had several questions.

Nelson asked their representative if they were fully aware that asphalt and building materials had been buried on this property that came from tearing down the elementary building a few years ago. This was acknowledged, they had no problem with this.

The vote was 4-0 to accept this offer, feeling this was a good community effort to improve the housing in Tama as well as promote more business from new families.

Platinum Development will be responsible for the legal work to make this transfer.

Resurface High School Parking Lot

A second public hearing was held following the first to receive public comments regarding the high school Parking lot resurfacing project. There were no comments from the public.

Asphalt bids were received from four different companies, Kluesner, Black Top Service Company, Manatts, and Cessford.

he upper parking lot bids were Kluesner at $74,786, Blacktop Service Co. at $47,820, Manatts at $62,065 and Cessford at $79,652.

The Parking Lot north of the tennis court bids were Kluesner at $43,568, Black Top Service at $42,236, Manatts at $35,970, and Cessford at $40,604

The lower parking lot bids were Kluesner at $166,424, Black Top Services at $125,101, Manatts at $138,599 and Cessford at $197,316.

he Drive between the Elementary building and the High School Building were Kluesner at $38,016, Black Top at $26,023, Manatts at $32,201 and Cessford at $65,642.

From Highway 63 to north to Concession stand, Kluesner at $28,261, Black Top at $26,968 Manatts at $23,926 and Cessford at $54,103.

From Highway 63 to top parking, Kluesner at $29,807, Black Top at $18,025, Manatts at $22,781 and Cessford at $50,020.

For Manatts you would need to add $9,000 for painting lines. If they would do individual projects prices could change for hauling of equipment.

Board voted to accept the bids from Black Top Service company in the amount of $286,172, which would be the lowest bid for the entire project.

They also received a bid from Black Top to complete work on the high school parking and drive directly east of the high school in the amount of $23,334. This was also accepted.

Personnel

Contract- for Clayton Harrold at High School Behavior Interventionist starting Aug. 13, at a salary of $44,312; Janet Rivers, high school kitchen and Kathryn Tomlinson in the elementary kitchen,, both at a salary of $11.95 per hour.

Approve Computers To Home

The board accepted the recommendation from Michelle Evans representing the School Improvement Advisory Committee to allow middle school and high school students to take computers home to use for instructional purposes.

The district’s School Improvement Advisory Committee meets on an annual basis and makes recommendations to the Board of Education. Evans told the group many schools in the State of Iowa allow this practice. The board said there would be some rules for this procedure to be sure students are responsible and making use of the materials as they are intended.