St. James Board of Education voted on Oct. 8 to terminate a lease agreement with the city of St. James for use of the livestock barn and arena at Nelson Hart Park. The decision comes after two months of discussion between the board and city, where both parties agreed they wanted to end the contract.

“So, I heard from Rick (Krawiecki, St. James mayor) and Leeann (DeMouche, city administrator) today, and they asked me to send the vote to them and then the decision, and they would take it to the next council meeting to approve and give us something to sign,” Superintendent Tim Webster told the board.

Krawiecki and Parks Director Kristy Rich appeared before the board on Sept. 10 to discuss a lease agreement for a barn in Nelson Hart Park. During the discussion, both members of the board and city administration were leaning toward ending the lease agreement as it no longer fit the needs of either entity.

Krawiecki informed board members that the city wanted to explore other opportunities to use the facility for public events.

The lease was created with plans for the FFA to utilize the barn and arena in the park for events such as the annual livestock show at Grape and Fall Festival, rodeo and potential future events. There were also ideas for seeking grants and other funding opportunities to improve the facilities, which required the district to have a lease agreement in place as part of the application. However, situations have evolved since the agreement was signed, and many of the plans never took shape.

“I had a good discussion with Kristy on (Oct. 6) about this, just to make sure, because the biggest thing is to make sure that we will still have the use for our kids and what they need. She actually offered to go to a couple of the alumni association meetings over the year to make sure if the FFA is expecting something as far as upkeep or has further discussions about how to continue to make improvements there, she is more than willing,” Board President Jon Rapp said.

He added that Rich has made it clear she does not have any plans to leave her position with the parks department and he feels confident the district would not lose access to the facilities whenever it is needed for students.

Currently, the school district only uses the facility for the festival and one rodeo each year. The city wants to utilize the grounds for other events to bring more people to the park.

At the last meeting, Krawiecki told the board that the city and school district have a long history of working together, and there has never been a time when the district was not provided the grounds for events. He intended to continue to provide access.

“It sounds like it is going to be a good thing to get this off our plate,” Rapp said. 

The board voted unanimously to terminate the contract. The vote will be passed on to the St. James City Council to be considered during the Oct. 14 meeting.

Should the council agree on the termination, the district will be provided with a mutual decision statement to be signed by both parties showing that the agreement was dissolved by joint decision.