By Mike Harris
Publisher

Rim of the World School District trustees on Thursday will consider declaring the district office in Blue Jay as surplus property, the first step in a lengthy process of selling the two-story building and the roughly one acre of land it sits on.

Purchased in 1995, the district office serves as the administrative heart
of Rim schools.

Jenny Haberlin, Rim’s chief business official, told The Alpine Mountaineer on Monday that the idea of selling the commercial property has been talked about over the last three years.

“This is really a formality; it would give us permission to move on to the next step,” she said.

The resolution being considered by trustees at Thursday’s board meeting allows the district to declare property known as the “District Office,” located at 27315 North Bay Road in Blue Jay, as surplus.

Aside from serving as Rim’s headquarters, the district has one tenant at the site, the Blue Jay Cinema.

While the district has talked about selling the property for the last three years, it was the defeat of Measure A, the $51.5 million school bond measure, in March that has spurred the district into seeing where it can raise funds for school maintenance purposes.

If trustees vote to begin the process of declaring the building as surplus, or no longer needed by the school district, by state law the district must first offer the property to other government agencies.

If no agency wants to negotiate with Rim for buying the property, it can then go to public bidding.

Currently, about 28 district employees are based at the district office. If the building eventually is sold, or some other action is taken, the district could relocate administration personnel to some other district property, such as the currently closed Grandview Elementary School or the Lake Gregory Education Center in Crestline.