A resolution that would involve Shelby County government along with the countywide school board in any transfer of school buildings to another school district surfaced Monday, Feb. 6, after a weekend of behind the scenes talks.

The resolution setting three options for the possible transfer of public school buildings to municipal school districts was debated vigorously by the Shelby County Commission Monday before it was ultimately voted down on a 6-6 tie vote.

The resolution, sponsored by Commissioner Walter Bailey, would have required an agreement by county government and the countywide school board on school property funded with general obligation bond debt.

“I’m just asking to have an agreement between the county and the countywide school board … to protect the interests of Shelby County taxpayers by not allowing property to be disposed of without receiving fair value,” Bailey said.

The school board would first have to decide if the school buildings are surplus. If they are surplus there would have been three options. The first was to transfer the schools at “fair market” value. The second option was for “fair consideration” which might be a negotiated agreement less than fair market value. The third option was a turn over possibly at no cost if there would be “no adverse impact” on county debt and no additional county debt would be created.

The resolution left open the possibility of the countywide school board renting school buildings to a municipal school district.

Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell expressed strong reservations about the earlier drafts and lingering reservations about the final draft which he said was an improvement over the earlier versions.

“I first questioned why the county commission is even weighing in on this,” Luttrell said. “I have cautioned for a long time that we need to slow down as a community and let the transition planning commission do their work. Let the school board work with municipal leaders and try to work this out.”

The planning commission is the body drafting the blueprint for a merged school district that takes effect at the start of the 2013-2014 school year. Its plan is to be completed by this August.

Bailey and others favoring the resolution cited pending legislation to change state law and give the school buildings to municipal school districts at no charge. State Senate Republican leader Mark Norris, of Collierville, recently put the bill on hold saying he wanted to see some local agreement soon or the bill would be voted on.

Countywide school board members were to discuss at a Tuesday, Feb. 7, meeting setting terms for the transfer of school property. The meeting was cancelled Wednesday for lack of a quorum.

The commission resolution was initially sent to committee for review. But commissioner James Harvey moved to reconsider that late in the Monday meeting. But he then left the meeting before the vote which was a 6-6 tie.

In other action, the commission had a far easier time on the thorny political subject of redistricting. The commission passed a general set of 13 single-member districts on the first of three readings Monday with amendments to the district lines certain by or at second reading.

An alternate plan by commissioner Henri Brooks that would have created eight majority African-American districts instead of the seven in the plan that passed on first reading was voted down.

The commission also sent back to committee the long-delayed animal care ordinance which had been recently amended to allow anonymous reporting of suspected animal abuse through animal welfare organizations. Commissioner Steve Mulroy said the ordinance didn’t appear to have the votes to pass with that provision and he wanted a chance to craft a better compromise.