The Davie County Board of Education on Oct. 17 declared the district’s former central office at 220 Cherry Street in Mocksville surplus and voted to accept a $450,000 purchase offer from the Davie County Museum.

The declaration and acceptance followed a presentation by Superintendent Dr. Belcher, who said the district moved its central office to 1200 Salisbury Street and “has fully moved its staff and services out of the Cherry Street property, making the Cherry Street property unnecessary and undesirable for public school purposes thus making the Cherry Street property surplus property pursuant to North Carolina General Statute 115 C 518.” The board adopted the surplus declaration by a 7-0 vote.

In a second motion the board authorized accepting the museum’s written offer of $450,000 and described the next steps: offering the property to the Davie County Board of Commissioners for the right to purchase at fair market value and, if the commissioners decline, proceeding with sale to the museum “as is, where is” using the upset-bid process required by law. Dr. Belcher told the board the museum’s offer was dated Sept. 6 and that the district intends to accept the museum’s offer if the commissioners do not purchase the property.

The board’s resolution included a description of the site: Davie County tax information shows the parcel at roughly 2.7 acres; the office building contains about 10,182 square feet on the ground floor and roughly 2,400 square feet in the basement, plus a detached storage building of about 1,600 square feet. The resolution and sale process were presented as being handled pursuant to state law; in presenting the sale plan Dr. Belcher said, “the board will accept the offer of the DMI to sell the property as is, where is, and proceed to use the methods for disposal provided by law.”

Board members praised the museum committee’s fundraising effort and interest in preserving the building. The motion to accept the museum’s offer passed 7-0.

Because the board’s declaration and acceptance reference statutory disposal procedures, the board directed the chair, superintendent and legal counsel to take steps necessary to complete the disposal process under the cited statutes.