Ever watched a couple dozen people tiptoe away from a $3.2 million deal?
That is happening now by the Knox County Board of Education, the Knox County Commission and Mayor Glenn Jacobs.
At issue is the signed purchase agreement between Knox County and property owners Todd Scott and Timothy Scott for some 32 acres on McFee Road to build a new elementary school for the Farragut area. We wrote about it earlier here.
Susan Horn
“We had not closed (on the transaction),” said Susan Horn, BOE member from the district. “We are looking for other property.” Horn said Knox County needs at least 20 acres for a new school with 1,200-student capacity.
“It’s hard to find land. We stepped back (from the agreement to purchase). We have a new superintendent (Jon Rysewyk) and a new assistant superintendent of operations (Garfield Adams) who are working hard on this.”
What happened
We talked with Gary Dupler, Knox County assistant law director who works with the Board of Education. Dupler didn’t disagree with my question: Is this deal dead? He said Knox County would forfeit $50,000 paid as earnest money to the sellers.
- The agreement was negotiated by the previous administration, headed by Superintendent Bob Thomas. Both the school board and Knox County Commission approved it in August 2022, and it was signed by Mayor Jacobs.
- It was roundly criticized because of the price per acre; the county’s agreement to build a public road and the lack of access from the south because of a narrow railroad underpass.
- The land, although rural, is within the boundaries of the town of Farragut. Dupler said the town was asking for “a boulevard built to Farragut standards.”
- The purchase agreement called for the buyer to obtain a survey before closing. The survey was not finalized during the 30-day inspection period, triggering a 30-day delay in closing and a second payment of $25,000 earnest money.
- Interestingly, neither buyer nor seller used a real estate professional. And they may not have used a lawyer. Dupler said the county law department was not involved in the negotiations and was simply asked to review the final contract as to proper form.
When the BOE asked for more time on the survey, the sellers asked for more money per acre. “The board didn’t like that more money was being requested,” said Dupler.
A contract amendment ( 7670_22-799_First_Amendment_to_Property_Purchase_Agreement_with_Timothy_C._and_Todd_M._Scott ) was negotiated and was on the BOE agenda for December 2022. At Horn’s request, it was deferred until January 2023. And in January, Horn withdrew the proposed amendment. No vote was taken.
I never liked this deal and I like it even less without closure. Let’s execute a final agreement among all parties that the county forfeits $50,000 and the sellers take it as payment-in-full. Otherwise, we’ve got a 7-foot mayor, 11 county commissioners and 9 school board members tiptoeing away with the hope that no one notices.
Sandra Clark is editor/CEO of Knox TN Today Inc.