The Albany County Sheriff’s Office is looking into leasing the closed Clarksville Elementary School from the Bethlehem Central School District to use as a substation.
Acting Sheriff Craig Apple will appear before the BC school board this evening to discuss the possibility.
“About a month ago, Craig Apple approached our operations and asked us if Clarksville was available for leasing,” BC Superintendent Michael Tebbano said, adding that the process is still in the early stages.
“We certainly don’t have any information about costs, we have to negotiate all that with the county attorney’s office,” he said.
Apple said the deal could be a win-win for the county and district. He would hope to consolidate the operations of the Sheriff’s Office’s facilities in Voorheesville and Cohoes under one roof, which would create efficiencies and maybe even free up resources to put more deputies on the road instead of behind desks.
Clarksville is a perfect location and facility, he said.
“I was a little skittish at first because I knew it was an older building, then I heard they had dumped a lot of money into it,” Apple said. “Quite honestly, it’s a home run. It’s large enough, it has a cafeteria, it has a gym.”
The building wouldn’t need much work, he continued, and the Sheriff’s Office wouldn’t hold prisoners there. There would only be holding cells, just as at the current patrol offices.
Bethlehem shuttered the school this year as a cost savings measure. There were no plans to sell off the building, but having a tenant could present a new revenue stream to the district, which like schools across the state is dealing with rising costs and less state funding.
“We’re always looking for an opportunity to find new revenue streams,” Tebbano said. “I don’t think it’s necessarily going to be super significant, but in this day and age every little bit helps.”
The district has also expressed a desire to open the school again when enrollment increases, though. Apple mentioned the possibility of a five-year lease with the district, with the option for another five years at the expiration.
Apple also said he’d like to open unused portions of the building up as a community center, and also keep the playground intact. He said making sure the community is on board with the move is a big factor, and if Clarksville clearly doesn’t want the offices there he won’t come.
“I want the community to come, know your cops, know your paramedics,” he said.
Apple said he’d like to advance the process along sooner rather than later and start moving in 2012.
The Board of Education will meet at 7 p.m. tonight at the district offices, 90 Adams Place, Delmar, a building that is actually up for sale. The district will be moving its operations there to the high school in the new year.
