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Hancock school offices moving

NEW CUMBERLAND — Hancock County Schools’ administrative offices will be moving after all.

Seven months after accepting a new lease from the city of New Cumberland, the school board, by a vote of 4-1, has opted to leave the building it has called home for years.

The move will be a blow to the city, inasmuch as it will remove $36,000 in annual rental income from New Cumberland’s municipal budget.

The school district’s central offices occupy the first floor of the 77-year-old municipal building. The building, formerly an elementary and junior high school, has been in the city’s possession since about 2002, when the school district sold the brick structure.

Until the current lease went into effect on March 21, the school board was paying the city $4,000 a month — $48,000 a year — in rent. The current lease calls for a rent of $3,000 a month and expires on June 30.

Driving the board’s decision to move is the high rent and the lack of access and parking around the municipal building, said board President Toni Hinerman.

“Money is tight for us, as it is for a lot of things in Hancock County. We have to think of that first and foremost,” Hinerman said.

The board met with Mayor Linda McNeil in a work session last week and learned the city wanted to increase the monthly rent to $3,500 to help cover the cost of utilities. Hinerman said the city wanted a three-year commitment from the school district.

McNeil could not be reached for comment.

The district’s central offices will move to the John D. Rockefeller IV Career Center, where space on the second floor will be prepared in the coming year, Hinerman said.

The price tag for the move is estimated at $80,000, at least part of which the board hopes to cover through the sale of the remaining elementary school properties in Weirton, she said.

Much of the construction work will be done in-house, through the district’s facilities and maintenance department. A large grassy area in front of the Career Center will be adapted for use as parking, Hinerman said.

The board has asked Superintendent Kathy Kidder-Wilkerson, Facilities and Maintenance Director Mark Dziatkowicz and Director of Finance Joe Campinelli to come up with a plan for the move within the next month.

While the maintenance and transportation departments are located at the Career Center, other departments will follow between now and September 2017, Kidder-Wilkerson said. Those departments, totaling 22 employees, include the superintendent’s office, the assistant superintendent’s office, student services, special education, finance and technology, she said.

Board member Tim Reinard was the only one to vote against the move. He said the decision felt rushed.

“I think there’s other options. We just need to make sure that what we do doesn’t go into cost overruns,” he said. “I want time … before I go raising my hand to spend $85,000.”

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