Shawano School Board sells old town hall

Highest bid less than the minimum established but expected to cover district’s costs
By: 
Lee Pulaski
City Editor

The old Wescott Town Hall is finally off the Shawano School District’s hands after being sold to Richard Muth for $67,100.

The Shawano School Board voted 8-1 on March 7 to accept Muth’s bid, even though it was below the minimum bid of $70,000 that the board established earlier this year. The district received four bids, according to finance director Josh Swanson, with Muth’s being the highest.

Swanson noted that the fair market value for the property was $65,000, but the minimum had been set at $70,000 to allow the district to recoup the costs to appraise and sell the property.

“This is above fair market value and allows us to recoup the appraisal costs,” Swanson said.

Board president Michael Sleeper expressed disappointment that the bids were not as high as what the board wanted, but he said did not see a benefit to rejecting the bids and trying again.

“It’s not quite what we wanted, but the recommendation is that we should take that bid and move on,” Sleeper said.

Board member Mart Grams, who was the lone vote against the sale, disagreed and felt the district could get more for the former town hall.

“I know the market’s booming, so that bothers me a little,” Grams said, adding that he would prefer that the owner was local. “I think we should establish a monetary value and a use value for this place. Fair market value is garbage.”

Swanson did not provide the board with many details other than the top bidder’s name.

Board member James Davel, who is also the administrative coordinator for Shawano County, disputed Grams’ claim that the buyer should be local, noting that the board did not stipulate that when it established the bidding requirements.

“Having watched what the county went through, holding onto a building because we thought we’d get more money, but it never panned out,” Davel said. “In this case, I think it’s just time to get rid of this, pull an asset off the books.”

In 2019, the Town of Wescott deeded the old town hall, located at N6251 Lake Drive, back to the school district. This fulfilled the obligations of an agreement reached 50 years earlier when the district gave the building, then used as a schoolhouse, to the town. The town had voted in 2006 to keep the building for community use, like the occasional rummage sale, even though the town’s main office and meetings took place at the current town hall on Old Keshena Road. It was later decided to return the building to the school district.

Initially, the district had pondered using the facility as an alternative academy for the exceptionally gifted for grades 6-12 with plans to research the idea in earnest in summer 2020. However, the coronavirus pandemic derailed efforts to research the issue further, and district officials announced in 2021 that they planned to sell the building instead. District residents agreed to those plans at the annual meeting held in September of that year.


lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com