Jonesborough to continue negotiations to buy former middle school property

JONESBOROUGH, Tenn. (WJHL) – At a meeting on Tuesday night, the Washington County, Tennessee Board of Education voted to reject an offer by the Town of Jonesborough for the former Jonesborough Middle School property.

The town offered the board $1.8 million to purchase the property, but school superintendent Jerry Boyd said the board wanted a better offer.

“It was $1.8 million for the building and included property with the building,” said Boyd. “But the board members still believe that amount for that piece of property in the location it’s in is below what they’re willing to accept.”

Boyd said the board appears set on their previous offer of $2.2 million. However, Jonesborough Mayor Chuck Vest said he wants a proper assessment done on the property.

“We’re hopeful that maybe the school board can put it out there and see what the property is worth and they can come back to us,” said Vest.

Vest said the town already has a plan for how to use the property.

“We have a big need to expand our fire department,” said Vest. “We’ve had such growth out in the county and even in Jonesborough with new homes. We’re getting to a point where we’ve reached capacity in our current location.”

Vest said this plan wouldn’t involve demolishing the building.

“There’s not many taxpaying entities that can take that property without having to take down that school,” said Vest. “Another one of the reasons why we got involved was a lot of community members hated to see the school taken down.”

Vest said that while he understands that the board wants more, the town can’t afford to up their offer.

“We’re coming out of a really tough budget year,” said Vest. “We really had to negotiate a lot to come out with no tax increase. So we’re excited about that, [but] we can’t really afford to pay much more than that.”

Boyd said that as of Wednesday, the town is the only party interested in the property. Both Boyd and Vest hope an agreement can be reached between the town and the school board.

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