TAMA-TOLEDO NEWS CHRONICLE BY JONATHAN MEYER - Local leaders from both the school board (left side) met with leaders from the City of Toledo (right side) to discuss mutually beneficial solutions to the vacant middle school property.

The South Tama County School Board and the Toledo City Council met Friday afternoon for a joint work session focused on the future of the former STC middle school property in Toledo, following the withdrawal of the most recent buyer and end user.

All five school board members were in attendance along with Superintendent John Cain. Representing Toledo was Mayor Brian Sokol, council members Cathy Cook and Joe Boll, City Administrator Kendall Jordan, and City Attorney Michael Marquess.

After a brief action item on a special education plan, the board entered discussion on the middle school. Cain welcomed everyone and gave an update on the status of property.

Sokol and Cain agreed that leads the city and school district had been in contact with, that would bring a local developer to the area, were not interested. Both adding that with funding and tax credits on a federal level being sparse, a project like that would be unlikely.

Cain asked if the city has interest in the property, to which Sokol responded with, “We would, not as it stands. We have interest in the bare property.” Elaborating that the city would look for a developer down the road to utilize the vacant lot.

As the conversation continued a question was posed by Cain, “Has there been any discussion about sharing the cost with the district for tearing it down?”

“Before the city gets into the conversation as far as any possible dollars, I think we need to know what demolition cost would be. I think the next step is getting demolition bids and see what that might look like. Is it 500,000 is it more, is it less?”

Kendall Jordan shared that Toledo Economic Development Director Katherine Ollendieck “has her eye on a few grants,” that would assist in future use or demolition of the property.

Rick Hopper asked if there would be any value in burning the middle school in a similar fashion to the old primary school in Tama. To which Kendall Jordan, who is the fire chief in Toledo, explained the process and how permitting for that would have to be handled.

Hopper also suggested letting the structure go to a farmer to use as fill for a riverine or other more local options.

Circling back around, the questions as raised if the building still has value. With Cain making the point that $1.5 million was put into the roof after the Derecho.

It was shared that the school district is paying $10-12,000 a month to maintain the building, which included heating, maintenance, and insurance.

The school board entertained ideas of relisting the property to gauge any other potential interest. The question was raised if demolition bids could be obtained while concurrently listing the property.

Re-zoning the property was another discussion with Marquess and Jordan informing of the process from a legal and zoning board perspective. Ideas were discussed and the only option the city was directly opposed to was an industrial project in the neighborhood.

Board President Elizabeth Dolezal spoke positively about the meeting near the conclusion of the discussion, “I think we’ve got a long list coming out of here. Looking into estimates or bids for demolition as well as possibly advertising the property.”

Both Megan Thessien and Joe Hanus agreed that waiting until the first of the year to potentially advertise the school would be a better course of action. Dolezal added that the old middle school would be back up for discussion and a possible action item at the first meeting of the new year, scheduled for Jan. 12.

The meeting was adjourned, after just shy of an hour of discussion between the two parties.

After the meeting both Mayor Sokol and Superintendent Cain shared their thoughts on the meeting.

Mayor Sokol shared: “I think the meeting went well and I am looking forward to future conversations with the school board.”

Superintendent Cain added: “It was a good discussion for the full board to have with the representatives of the city of Toledo on the afternoon of Friday, December 12, 2025. Our records indicate that our initial discussions with the city started on the evening of November 6, 2024. Although we have yet to reach a solution or conclusion, I am confident that the process will yield a successful outcome in the future.”

The next regularly scheduled board meeting is set for January 12 at 5pm.