The Kiski Area School Board is considering a public auction to get the shuttered Bell-Avon Elementary School out of the district's hands as quickly as possible.

Disposing of the school in the Salina area of Bell Township before winter and its costs set in is desirable, but it seems unlikely that will be possible.

The school board's buildings and grounds committee on Wednesday talked about how to go about unloading the property after an agreement for Bell Township to take the building fell through.

The committee members agreed an auction would be the fastest way to sell the school.

Other options are to accept sealed bids or hire a real estate agent to sell it.

“We need to get rid of it. We need to get it on the tax rolls as soon as we can,” said board member Robert Keibler, the committee's chairman.

Besides speed, an auction was considered preferable because the auctioneer would handle advertising the sale and posting required public notices.

“Getting people interested (in buying the school) is the challenge,” committee member David Anderson said.

The full board is expected to vote when it meets Monday on putting out a request for proposals from auctioneers.

To speed up the process, the board is expected to schedule a special meeting in early October to hire one, Keibler said.

Still, an auction likely would not be held until early next year.

“We want to get the right auctioneer with the right connections,” Superintendent John Meighan said.

Bell-Avon closed at the end of the 2012-13 school year.

It is the first of three Kiski Area elementary schools the district plans to close as part of an elementary building project that saw the district's new Upper Elementary School for all fifth- and sixth-grade students open for this school year.

The others are Washington and Laurel Point. Washington this school year is housing students from Kiski Area East Primary School, formerly Vandergrift Elementary, while that building is being renovated.

Bell-Avon sits on about five acres of land. It was appraised at $550,000, Business Manager Peggy Gillespie said.

Despite that, officials seemed certain it would not sell for that much.

Demolishing the building would cost the district close to $300,000. Even if it is sold, a buyer could choose to demolish it.

Keeping the empty building on the district's books poses challenges and costs. It will require frequent monitoring and visits to check for maintenance issues, maintenance supervisor Rich Sczur said.

“It does require some baby-sitting,” he said.

Besides utility costs such as electric and heat, property insurance costs the district $4,300 annually, which Gillespie said will go up now that the building is vacant.

There also is concern the building could become a target for vandals. The possibility of boarding up windows, and what that might cost, was discussed by the committee.

Brian C. Rittmeyer is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 724-226-4701 or brittmeyer@tribweb.com.

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