West G School Board informs the public about Newbury Sports Grounds

The West Geauga Schools Board of Education provided an update Aug. 22 regarding lease negotiations with Newbury Township Trustees for the use of sports fields on the former Newbury School property.

Last July, the council passed a resolution establishing a three-person committee consisting of Superintendent Rich Markwardt, council member Bill Beers and council counsel to negotiate a deal by September 9.

“If you recall at the last board meeting we discussed that we had a meeting with the directors of Newbury about the sports ground lease, which you cleared about a month ago” , said Bill Beers, member of the board of directors. “We had that meeting then and asked them to give us feedback by last Friday and they actually provided us with information on Thursday about their interest in renting the property.”

Following the July 2020 transfer of territory from Newbury Schools to West Geauga Schools, the Township of Newbury and the District began negotiating a lease agreement with the option to purchase some or all of the former school property.

“On Friday, Richard, Peter the lawyer and I had a discussion about what we needed more information from them and Peter got back to them on that, so we’re waiting for them to answer a few questions. that we had,” Beers said.

At the July board meeting, board chair Kathy Leavenworth said the proposed lease should not be taken as a sign that the school board is reopening negotiations with Newbury trustees over other properties.

“I guess I would say that at this point things look optimistic and we will be able to come to some sort of agreement for the lease of the sports grounds,” Beers said. “We still have a few weeks to sort things out. Our target date remains September 9 to retrieve the presentation as a final lease agreement for a September 12 board presentation.