An agreement has yet to be made concerning a residential property adjacent to the build site of the new Sequatchie County Intermediate School. Board of Education members decided to retract an offer for the home and property at their meeting held Monday, July 5.

The board has been unsuccessful in the past months to obtain the property and home of Louise Sims on Cordell Drive through purchase proposals and offers. The board chose to retract their latest offer of $50,000 for her to quitclaim her property, and the school system pay to move the structure to a property on Elm Street along with another home owned by the school system.

After receiving a response from Sims, which was not discussed at the meeting, the board decided to drop the offer and move forward with an offer for the residents in the home purchased previously by the board, currently occupied by Lloyd and Linda Sims.

The two have lived in the home for over half a year rent free, noted Superintendent Johnny Cordell. The board decided to approve an offer to allow Lloyd and Linda Sims to live in the home at the rate of $600 per month for rent, effective as of Sunday, August 1. This contract will remain in place until an agreement is reached for Louise Sims’ home, he noted.

Should Lloyd and Linda Sims not agree, they will be given 30 days to vacate the premises.

In other school system business, the 2010-2011 budget was approved at the meeting, based on an estimated zero-percent growth in tax revenue for the coming year.

“There will be no tax increase for this budget. We’ve cut about $129,000 out of the budget to keep it balanced,” said Cordell. “Yet, we have given step-increases and the usual one-percent increase in insurance for employees.”

Cordell noted, under the economic circumstances, he is very pleased with the outcome of the budget.

The Sequatchie County School System will have a total budget of $29,413,701, with an operating budget of $28,173,832 for the 2010-2011 school year.

An emergency bid was accepted for the installation of three new, state-of-the-art boilers for Sequatchie County High School. Maintenance Director Ray Hobbs said, the boilers are used 365 days a year and are a vital part of the school’s functions.

“We can save thousands of dollars with these energy-efficient boilers,” said Hob-bs.

The bid accepted came from Del-Air Mechanical Contractors, for a total of $136,900, which includes installation, the boilers and a new backflow valve. The boilers are rated at 96-percent efficiency, which is expected to have a five-year payback, noted Superintendent Cordell.

The only other bid for the installation was from Jake Marshall at $185,964.

Technology Coordinator Spencer Goins was unable to be at the meeting, but left a letter recommending Personal Computer Systems’ bid for classroom technology and supplies, which was approved and accepted.

Edutech was approved as the only bid offered for technology hardware. An exact bid amount was not discussed at the meeting.

Kel-San was approved for all custodial supplies. Hobbs indicated, the company has always been cheapest and provides great quality.

Officials chose to approve the purchase of a new water heater for Sequatchie County Middle School at the price of $25,800 from Southeastern Plumbing Company. This was one of two bids which came in. The other being Jake Marshall’s bid of $28,612.

Colonial Pest Control was chosen as the low bid for their service. The board accepted the company’s $281.77 charge per month, totaling $3,381.74 per year. Cordell said, the system uses Colonial already and has heard no complaints yet. The other two bids reviewed at the meeting included Ambush Exterminating at $945 per month of service and PureGuard at $1,300 per month.

The second and final reading of a new “stipend” policy was approved by the board. This policy is specifically to pay for grant writers within the school system.