Published: March 31, 2009 09:28 am      

Business owner wants to purchase former school

Buell would become inbound call center

CLINTON — The Clinton School Board heard from a business owner who is interested in purchasing the Elijah Buell building during this week's Committee of the Whole meeting.

Jim Adams, owner of Affordable Leasing, told the board he is interested in purchasing the former elementary school, located at 216 31st Ave. North, to create an inbound call center. Adams stated that the proposition could bring up to 1,000 jobs to the area.

According to Adams, the call center would be staffed 24 hours a day, and would be staffed in shifts so as not to bring a huge influx of people into the residential area.

Adams stated that the Buell site is an ideal match for his business, which has been in operation for 15 months.

“We’re a young company,” Adams stated. “But we’ve got a lot of good people.”

According to Adams, employees at the call center would work full time, with wages starting around $12 per hour, including some benefits. Workers would be responsible for monitoring alarm systems and elevator alarms, among other duties.

Adams stated that he has already obtained his CLEC (Competitive Local Exchange Carrier) in Wisconsin and Montana and is looking to complete the process in Iowa.

He told the board he is waiting to receive information back from an appraisal and asbestos abatement estimate being performed at the Buell building, and plans to have a bid to submit to the board in the next few weeks.

In other business, board president Thea Engelson reported that the school board will meet in joint session this week with the Clinton City Council to discuss the possible purchase of land for a new middle school.

The meeting is open to the public, and will begin at 5 p.m. Thursday at the Ericksen Community Center.