TARBELL SCHOOL: P+S Terminated by Mutual Agreement, Building Reverts To Town

The future of Tarbell School is once again up in the air as Selectmen voted to terminate the long-standing Purchase and Sale Agreement with Robin Kane of Country Kids along with Mike Rasmussen and other investors. This group had originally agreed to buy the old West Groton Village school building for $35,000 following installation of a new septic system that was paid for by the town at a cost of $30,000. Voters agreed to sell it to the investors as it was to be used for educational purposes.

Kane, however, has relocated her business to North Main Street in Groton, thus there was no longer interest in locating a school in Tarbell. The investors had found a buyer for the building and were planning to exercise the P&S and then re-sell it to their buyer.

The vote on termination of the P&S was contingent on mutual agreement for withdrawal - without prejudice - and that the town would return the $5,000 that was put down as a deposit, and agreed to pay to the investors $2200 to cover costs of the mitigation reports, which Rasmussen said, could be passed on to the next owner. These reports covered the location of asbestos in the building and the fuel tank.

According to Rasmussen, "We don't want to get into sore points. We want to come to an amicable agreement," he said. Asked by Selectman Josh Degen what he thought was amicable. Rasmussen responded $3000, noting that the group had spent "thousands of hours" and had other bills for legal expenses and architect fees, suggesting that the $3,000 would mitigate some of the investors' expenses.

Selectmen Chairman Peter Cunningham asked, "When you went into this, did you expect these expenses?" Rasmussen replied, "This is a friendly offer to get out of this.....our attorney thinks we have the right to exercise this P&S."

Rasmussen was asked about cost of the mitigation reports, and he advised that they actually cost about $2200. Town Manager Mark Haddad told Rasmussen that he would need a copy of those invoices. Rasmussen agreed to the $2200 although he cautioned that he had not consulted with his investors on this.