The Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District Board of Trustees approved a bid for a $16 million bond toward the Starkville/Mississippi State University partnership school and other district projects in a special called meeting Wednesday.
Following an executive session with bond attorney Jim Young, the board voted 4-0, with Assistant Secretary Lee Brand Jr. absent, to approve the bonds at 2.8 percent interest through Robert W. Baird and Company.
The Baird bid is the second lowest the district received after Regions Bank at 2.56 percent interest. However, the Regions bid was submitted in an incorrect format.
“State law set certain requirements for bond bids,” Young said. "Our notice of sale set some requirements for the bond bids. We appreciate the Regions bid, but it did not conform with the state law or with our notice.”
Prior to the executive session, Superintendent Lewis Holloway said the Regions bid would not have been considered if Regions weren’t a community business.
“The first thing that jumps out is it’s got to be in tenths,” Holloway said. “It can’t be 2.56 percent. It can either be 2.5 or 2.6 percent, but not 2.56. There is language in here that bothers us about the ‘purchaser’ and ‘this consul deems it necessary’ that could possibly alter the bid … Because it is Regions, we want to try to do business with them … There’s too much at risk here to fool with this for very long. In 15 minutes we’ll start losing bids.”
After the vote, Young called the Baird bid “excellent.”
The $16 million includes the district’s $12.5 million contribution to the partnership school as well as funds for technology and other projects.
In addition to the district’s contribution, the partnership school project is funded by $10 million from the state and $5 million from MSU. Once complete, it will house the district’s sixth and seventh grade students and serve as a laboratory for the MSU College of Education.