The playground at the former Broad Street School had a large part in the discussion Monday night at a community meeting about the sale of the school.

Three organizations bid on the closed school, and all of them spoke at the meeting. On Nov. 16, the Butler School Board approved a sales agreement with the Arc of Butler County, which bid $475,007 on the building.

J.M. Beatty Furniture initially bid $380,000, but then sent a new bid of $530,000 on the day the board approved the agreement with Arc. The board already had rejected a $150,000 bid from the Center for Community Resources.

Broad Street is one of four schools the district closed in June as a part of a consolidation effort.

When asked by a member of the audience, John Link, executive director of the Arc, said he probably would take out the playground at Broad Street, saying it is a liability and the equipment is not up to date. He said he would like to work with the city to get a new playground nearby.

Chad Beatty, owner of J.M. Beatty, also said he would remove the equipment, saying insurance costs would be too high.

Mike Robb, executive director of CCR, said part of his goal in bidding for the building was to preserve the playground.

Beatty asked Robb who is bidding on playground equipment and for how much. Robb said CCR’s options for getting bids is limited due to time limitations.

“I’m talking about what we are proposing to do,” Robb said.

Robb said he is not trying to be adversarial.

“I’m just asking questions,” Beatty said, saying he proposed updating the playground equipment at one time, too.

But whoever gets the building, Butler Mayor Tom Donaldson said the city has insurance and can handle the liability of the playground.

“Deed that part off to the city,” Donaldson said.

Resident Laura Wick said she and her husband bought their house because the school and its playground are right across the street.

She said families gather at the playground.

“This is where we come,” Wick said.

Beatty said he liked Donaldson’s idea to deed the playground portion of the property to the city.

“I think that’s a great possibility,” Beatty said.

Resident Sherri McKibben, who spoke in favor of CCR’s bid, said it would be good if Beatty and the city are able to keep the playground.

“That is at least a compromise, of sorts,” McKibben said.

Discussing Arc’s bid, Link said his agency, which serves people with intellectual disabilities, wants to have a job training center and its offices in the former school. Additionally, he also would like to put a Head Start program there.

Link said the organization has a job training center in the city off Jefferson Street.

“We have outgrown that building,” Link said.

Beatty said his 100-year-old company bought a former school in the Moniteau School District, which is its main retail store, a decade ago.

He said the company gutted that building, adding new ceiling and walls.

“That’s the same thing we’d do here,” Beatty said.

He said a store in Broad Street Elementary would bring 30 to 40 jobs to the city. He also noted he is the highest bidder.

He said he expects the store to bring in $7 million in revenue annually, and he said he would pay city, school, county and state taxes. And he said he would pay cash for the building.

Beatty said it would be OK for the district to sell to the Arc if it matches his bid or exceeded it.

“To sell it for less, I don’t think is right,” Beatty said.

He said he handed his higher bid in on Monday hours before the board voted to approve its sales agreement with the Arc. He said the board made a “rushed decision.”

If he was on the board, he said he would ask for more money from Arc to counter his bid.

Beatty also said he has an interest in bidding to buy Oakland Elementary School, but only if he gets Broad Street. Oakland, he said, is halfway between Broad Street and the company’s main retail store in Washington Township.

Robb said CCR wants to build a community center at Broad Street and move the organization’s offices at the Sunnyview complex in Butler Township to there.

He said nonprofits are a “vital aspect” of communities, just like businesses.

“They’re just different, and they contribute differently,” Robb said.

He said all three bids are good choices.

City Councilman Bill May said CCR and the Arc provide needed services to the city, but said he has seen the costs of services the city needs to provide, such as police protection, increase over the years.

“As those costs rise, unfortunately, our revenues are challenged,” May said.

When the Clearview Mall opened more than 30 years ago in Center Township, May said many businesses left the city, leading to less tax revenue for the city. He said an opportunity like Beatty has not happened in a long time.

“We need revenue,” May said.

Donaldson agreed with May. “The city’s tax base has been declining for years.”

He said nonprofits do good work, but he said for-profit businesses that choose to come to Butler — such as Dunkin’ Donuts, Center City hotel developer J.S. Capitol and now possibly Beatty — is because they feel it is a good fit.

“They come here for a reason,” Donaldson said.

McKibben said she was upset the school itself was taken away. Of the three proposals, she said she liked CCRs the best because its proposal offers something to the community at large.

She said parents used to gather at the school and at events like PTA meetings to talk.

“That’s what’s lost here,” McKibben said.

Wick said whoever buys the school needs to understand the surrounding community.

City Councilwoman Kathy Kline said she works as a librarian in the northern part of the county and is familiar with the way they Beatty family does business.

“They are very much aware of the community where they sit,” Kline said, saying they would take the neighborhood into consideration.

The purpose of the Monday meeting was to take public input on the sale of the school.

District solicitor Tom Breth said the sale of the school must be approved by county Judge S. Michael Yeager. A hearing before him is set for 1 p.m. Dec. 22.

Breth said he does not know what criteria Yeager will use to make a decision on the building.

“Nobody has an advantage in that hearing,” Breth said.

He noted that any of the bidders could make a higher bid or new school board members who are sworn in Dec. 1 could vote to overturn the sale.