A public hearing regarding the sale of Ken Locke Stadium to the Knoxville Alumni Association was set for October 14th by the school board Monday night.
The Knoxville Alumni Association’s Save our Stadium (SOS) Committee gave a presentation at Monday’s school board meeting and mentioned that it has been hard to fundraise for renovations for Ken Locke without owning the property, as it is currently owned by the school district. The SOS committee wants to transform the property into a community space for everyone to enjoy.
The SOS committee claimed at Monday’s meeting that they have invested over $1 Million into the old football stadium and they also stated that on social media. However, according to the school district business office, the school district has invested roughly $937,000 into the property over the years, but has been reimbursed approximately $215,500 by the group. The SOS Committee tells KNIA/KRLS the School District didn’t pay the bills, and that mostly everything was paid from their own account. They state the improvements they made were well over $200,000, and the money the school is seeing is money that was reimbursed for a bill that was made out to them. The committee claims they disclosed all expenses and financials at their open SOS meetings nearly two decades ago, as well at their annual alumni meeting.
The Save Our Stadium committee is requesting to purchase the property for $5,000 and the school board has the option to sell it to them, sell it to a different entity, or retain the property. Superintendent Cassi Pearson says the public hearing is required for something like this and it gives community members the option to voice their opinion on the sale.
“The Knoxville Alumni Association presented a purchase proposal to the school board for Ken Locke Stadium with a purchase price of $5,000 as their offer. The next step is the board has to have a public hearing, so anyone in the community who would like to speak to the board and give their opinion whether that’s in support of that agreement or opposed to that agreement has the opportunity to do so.”
The public hearing will be held at 5:30 pm on October 14th in the district office board room. Read the financial details reported by the Knoxville Community School District in relation to Ken Locke Stadium below.
Details from the Knoxville Community School District Business Office:
- The bulk of the Ken Locke Stadium projects occurred between 2006-2009
- KCSD paid all of the bills at a total cost of $936,930.08
- SOS reimbursed the district $215,473.10
- Knoxville Alumni Association – SOS Committee received $100,000 State Historical Society Grant that required matching funds
- On the application form it states the matched funds were as follows: $18,694 from dances/dinners/raffles, $134,729 from private individuals contributions, $1,300 matching contribution funds, $4,124 from pop can collections, and $2,138 from memorial gifts for a grand total of $157,546
- This application was signed on Sept. 10, 2007 by Mike Cunningham, President Knoxville Alumni Association, Connie Husted & Pennie Sommar
- KAA/SOS raised $257,546 and donated $215,473.10 to KCSD
- SOS has continued pop can collections for the past 15 years
- KCSD has not received any further donations for Ken Locke Stadium from KAA/SOS
- SOS chose the projects for their donations that were completed between 2007-2009 that included renovations to the old concession stand under the scoreboard, repair to the stone wall under the gazebo, restoring the entrance towers on both the home & visitor sides, restoring the spires/lintels and transom windows on the bath house, and repairing the seat caps on the home side.