By Sue Kiesewetter
Enquirer contributor

LIBERTY TWP. - Once money becomes available to Lakota Schools, Liberty Elementary School will be relocated to a site on Millikin Road here.

And Union Elementary will be rebuilt on land along LeSourdsville-West Chester Road in West Chester Township.

Earlier this week, the Lakota Board of Education agreed to spend more than $800,000 to purchase the two sites. Closings on both properties will be set soon, said treasurer Alan Hutchinson.

"I think they're good for the district," said board vice president Sandy Wheatley. "I think we got them at an extremely fair price, considering what land is going for."

The two schools are being relocated according to a facilities plan the school board adopted several months ago. Union Elementary is slated to close, while Liberty would be improved and converted to an early childhood center.

The plan also calls for construction of a third elementary school on district-owned land at Cincinnati-Dayton and Linn roads.

The new Union Elementary site is an 11-acre parcel just north of Tylersville Road. The price is $400,000, and the site was difficult to find, Hutchinson said.

Business manager "Doug (Lantz) went around and knocked on several doors to find the best location in the Union attendance zone," Hutchinson said.

Dentist Robert Riggenberg is selling the district 10 acres at 6050 Millikin Road for the new Liberty Elementary School. It is between Maud Hughes and West Chester-LeSourdsville roads, across from Kern Nursery and Landscaping. The board will pay $405,000.

Money to pay for both pieces of land will come from the general fund, Hutchinson said. It could be paid back through proceeds of a 2.37-mill bond issue that is included in an 11.67-mill bond issue the board put on the March 2 primary. The other 9.3 mills will be used for day-to-day operations.

In addition to buying the two pieces of land, the board agreed to sell the special services building on Cincinnati-Dayton Road for $276,100 - minus auctioneer's fees. By law, proceeds must go back into the permanent improvement fund - but could be used to offset the cost of land for schools.

The structure had been used as offices until the administrative building opened on Princeton Road last summer. In the past, the building served as the West Chester post office, and before that it was a jail.