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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us November 15, 2005 Plexis interested in Lincoln rental By Jennifer Squires Ashland Daily Tidings A local software company has submitted a formal proposal to lease all of Lincoln Elementary School. The Ashland School Board will enter into negotiations with Plexis Healthcare Systems during an executive session Thursday morning, board members decided on Monday night. The choice to pursue discussions with Plexis came after the local Waldorf program discontinued negotiations to lease a portion of Lincoln Elementary School. Plexis submitted a letter of intent to the school district late Monday that expressed an interest in the leasing the entire building for five years, with the option to renew that lease twice. “I would like to talk more to this company,” board member Amy Amrhein said. She added that she would prefer to put educational programs in the building but “I am interested in a long-term lease.” Plexis, which has about 70 employees, would like to occupy the building within eight months of signing an agreement with the school district, according to Russell Salzer, the chief operating officer. Salzer declined to comment further on the lease proposal this morning. The firm started in Ashland in 1996 and now has 53 clients across the nation and others in four countries. Plexis currently operates from two buildings on Williamson Way, off of East Hersey Street, and would require some upgrades to the Lincoln to accommodate its needs. Teachers — many of whom opposed renting to a private school — are divided on what to do with the building now, according to Daniel Cazares, the union co-president and a child development specialist at Walker Elementary School. “Teachers aren’t of one mind,” he said after the meeting, noting “I think there’s more unity in keeping Lincoln a public school.” “It’s really sad we lost the Waldorf people and I hope we can get them back,” Ashlander Paul Copeland told the board Monday. In an e-mail to the Ashland School Board and district staff on Monday morning, Siskiyou School representative Genna Southworth cited the high utility cost to operate the 80-year-old, two-story school as the prohibiting component of the lease. The school district had asked for 65 cents per square foot, that Siskiyou School pay all utility costs and that the organization sign a triple-net lease. “We deeply appreciate the spirit of openness and creativity that many of you have come to us with and your willingness to explore how we could make this collaboration happen,” Southworth wrote. “Unfortunately, the terms that you are requesting are simply not within the range of our financial capability at this time.” Board member Ruth Alexander suggested the school district pay a portion of the utility costs, which are several thousand dollars a month, and board member Mat Marr questioned if the district was ready to “give up on the Waldorf proposal.” In her e-mail, Southworth did indicate the Siskiyou School may be interested in leasing a portion of the building in the future if the program could share it with another tenant, which would reduce some of utility costs. Ashland Schools Superintendent Juli Di Chiro will also meet with Arnie Green, the executive director of Community Works, on Nov. 16 to discuss a proposal to lease a portion of the Lincoln. The offer entails housing Lithia Springs School — a coed program serving troubled middle and high school students housed at two resident facilities in Ashland — at Lincoln for five to 10 years. The offer hinges on remodeling some classrooms to create private counseling areas for Lithia Springs School. The school wants to occupy 10,000 to 15,000 square feet of the building within 18 months, although district officials have not reported a solid time frame. Board members do not agree on what the future of Lincoln should be although, in October, they identified maintaining Lincoln’s conditional use permit that creates the potential to house an elementary school at the site as a board and district goal for the 2005-06 year. “My overriding concern is I want to maintain Lincoln School for Ashland public school children,” board chair Heidi Parker said. “I’m very concerned that the clock is ticking.” An educational program would have to occupy at least a portion of the building to meet that standard, according to city building inspector Mike Broomfied. He told the school board that school-age children would have to be using the building before this coming June. If that standard is not met, the conditional-use permit would lapse and Lincoln would be evaluated by current building codes if and when the district wanted to use it for a school program again. The former school board voted to close Lincoln in February 2004 after projected school district enrollment dropped below 1,050. When it closed in June, Lincoln was the second Ashland elementary school to be shuttered since June 2003. The school board requested lease or sale proposals, which were first reviewed in April. Later, the option to sell the building was eliminated. To date, the school board has rejected proposals from the City of Ashland, Southern Oregon University and a consortium of local art and fitness instructors. 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