The Griswold School Board, Monday night, accepted an offer from Chris Jahnke, with 3-H-O, LLC in Atlantic, for the purchase of the former Lewis Elementary School Building. Griswold Superintendent Dave Henrichs told KJAN News the Board and Jahnke agreed the building would be purchased for $9,000, which is considerably less than the $40,000 he proposed during a meeting last month. Henrichs said the offer was lower, due to the amount of work that must be done on the building before it can be occupied.

Jhanke said he would be willing to pay between five- and 15-thousand dollars, because through his research, he had concerns over the potential cost he would incur over asbestos abatement, an improperly working air conditioner unit in the gym – his main business would be located in that area. The cost to abate the asbestos would be somewhere between 60-and 80-thousand dollars, and to replace the A/C, another 5-thousand dollars. In addition, Jahnke was concerned with asbestos under the floor tiling. Pallet jacks would be used in that area. If that gets disturbed, there’s another issue. An epoxy covering would cost him $20,000 to 25,000. Carpeting is an option, but he would need to get a motorized pallet jack, at a cost of $8,000-to 10,000.

In addition to settling on the $9,000 purchase price, the Board made an agreement with Jahnke for trucking and manpower services to help move all the materials from the Lewis and Elliott buildings to the new building. Henrichs said it would have been very costly if the District chose to reject the agreement and demolish the building, instead, it would costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. And, he said it keeps their promise to District patrons and residents of Lewis, not to let the building become an eyesore.

In other business, the Griswold School Board agreed to leave the 2019-2020 School Calendar the same as this year, with the start date in August, on the 23rd.