ALGONA – Algona Community School District has rescinded its sale offer for its Titonka building to the city of Titonka.

The district plans to sell the building to Titonka for $1, with the north part of the building being demolished and the newer sections being used by the city and one classroom being used for the district’s preschool program.

The board rescinded the sale voluntarily.

“We were looking at a transfer of property and tearing down the building after the transfer. By code, we can’t tear it down if we don’t own it,” Marty Fonley, Algona superintendent, said. “We can tear it down and then sell it, but we have to tear it down first while we still own it.”

The district intends to proceed with the sale in the future, Fonley said.

“I don’t see anything changing,” he said. “The board is still committed to getting the building into the city’s hands, if the city’s interested. We just have to do it in the right order.”

He added, “I think everything else we’ve discussed will work.”

According to Fonley, the district is readying plans for demolishing the north part of the Titonka building.

“We’ve got to figure out when we can tear it down and what parts they’d like to see torn down, if the city wants it,” he said.

The project will be done during the summer.

“Then we’ll move forward again, hopefully,” Fonley said.

A benefit of the sale, Fonley said in January, is that the building will not go unused.

“It’s going to have a community use,” he said. “It adds value to the community, because there really aren’t a lot of meeting places for a community gathering in Titonka, so it serves a purpose going forward. And at least part of it is fairly new, so it’s nice to not see it torn down or just left to decay.”

He added, “We don’t like to see vacant buildings in any community.”