School board members aren’t done talking about the lease of the Youngsville Middle-High School building.

Board member Misty Moore wanted to have further discussions this month, while requesting at the last meeting that the lease with the Warren County Commissioners should be rescinded.

“I feel that we are basically not doing the due diligence by saving the county money at the expense of the children,” Moore said. “It would be a challenge to get that rezoned for use at all, and I feel that we should look at different opportunities. We’re saving money to the county, which is fantastic, but I also see within the contract opening the district up for some major expenses if something would go wrong, it is on us, by the way the contract is written, but I would like to review that again and take an additional look at it.”

The board approved the lease in November, with yes votes cast Monday by Savanna Cochran, Kevin Lindvay, Paul Mangione, Mary Passinger, John Wortman and Stephanie Snell. No votes were cast by Daniel Sullivan and Tammi Holden while Cody Brown abstained. Superintendent Gary Weber said the issue should be brought up during committee meetings and a legal recommendation received.

“I think the next course of action, and I can bring it up in committee, would be to get legal recommendation in regards to what you can or cannot do regarding that lease, because I don’t know that legally you’re able to do that,” Weber said. “So I think the first step would be getting legal advice in terms of what we can and cannot do.”

The district is leasing the building for $1.

School district officials are seeking approval to subdivide the parcel, according to the lease agreement. The county would be leasing Lot 2, which includes the building and associated land. If the subdivision is denied, then the county will lease the entire parcel.

“I just want to look at the different options for the fact that it would be spot-zoning which is almost impossible to do, so the building is going to sit vacant,” . It can’t be re-zoned outside of a residential district as well.

The agreement, according to a news release from the commissioners, allows the commissioners to opt out after the first year. If the agreement works out, it would be for 25 years. The county would be able to have discretion to determine which programs would be operated at the school with the only condition being the county can’t operate a school or similar education program for school-age children. The school district will pay utilities and trash removal for the first year of the lease, except for phone and internet. After the first year, the county is responsible for maintenance costs, repair costs and cleaning costs.

Weber’s response was that under the committee, he could bring back solicitor advice in regards to what is able to be done with the lease.

“I’ll also provide an update at that time, regarding zoning because I just attended that meeting,” Weber said. “And so the plan by Youngsville at this time under the planning and zoning commission, is to re-zone that entire parcel to C-1.” He also added that their plan is that they approved and will be taking it to the borough council.

Part of the agreement is for the county to grant a non-exclusive license for the use of the building’s locker rooms and related areas used for athletic or extracurricular activities. Moore said that they should look at other options that the building has to offer with its amenities such as the auditorium and the fields and such.

“We’re looking at keeping the locker rooms and the fields for use with the middle and elementary school,” Moore said. “Why would we not relocate and use where the other building is more easily broken apart into different leases, or more saleable due to location and the layout of it?”

Weber concluded that “it’s really not an action item at this time, but it’ll be an update for you guys that you can then make a determination at the committee what you want,” he said. Moore pointed out that the lease goes into effect January first so it should be looked at prior to that date.