The Germantown School District has received an offer to purchase the Highway View property.
The property is located in the town of Polk at the northeast corner of Pioneer and Mayfield roads. The building at the site was once used as an elementary school but has been closed for several decades.
In a Jan. 3 memo to the board, Director of Business and Auxiliary Operations Ric Ericksen said he and  Maintenance Director Don Erickson met with officials from Germantown Development LLC Dec. 27 and answered several questions about the property.
“After discussions, it was clear to me that their inquiry was bona fide,” Ericksen said in the memo.
Ericksen indicated that “legal considerations” that would need to be considered regarding the sale would include the district responsibility to provide a clear title, and asbestos removal from the site.
In a Dec. 27 letter to Ericksen, Dean Gunderson and Jennifer Miller of Germantown Development LLC stated their “firm offer price” for the property is $100,000. The offer is good for 60 days as of Dec. 27 and is contingent on receiving a clear title for the site.
“We plan to purchase the property, demolish the building, clean up the property and prepare it for a future unknown use,” Gunderson and Miller stated in the letter.
The matter is up for discussion at the Jan. 9 School Board meeting. District staff is recommending that pending legal matters, the property be sold “as is” for $100,000 and a check for $100,000 from the State Trust Fund intended to fund the district demolition of the building be returned to the trust fund.

Board to consider art donation for high school
In another matter on the Jan. 9 board agenda, the board will consider the donation of a “Warhawk in flight” statue for the high school.
According to a Jan. 3 memo to the board, the statue — which was designed and constructed by Todd Berget of Libby, Montana — is being requested for acceptance by Donna Ellenbecker on behalf of Patrick Cornell, who spent 32 years as a teacher and coach at the high school. Cornell was killed Dec. 7 when his vehicle was struck by a semi truck while he was driving to his home in Arizona.
—By Thomas J. McKillen, Managing Editor