MAGNOLIA SPRINGS, Ala. - The Magnolia Springs Town Council discussed once again approaching the Baldwin County School Board about purchasing the old school property located at the corner of County Road 49 and Gates Avenue.

The property is owned by Alabama Department of Education but all decisions regarding that property are left to the school board, Mayor Charles Houser said. The Magnolia School was erected on the property in 1927 but a fire destroyed the school building in 1985. The school board leases part of the property to the town Volunteer Fire Department, who built a station on the property. The VFD originally operated out of what is now Town Hall.

The council members discussed how to approach the school board about a potential purchase.

"I'd like to start the conversation again and find out what the (price) is," Houser said at the work session Tuesday. "I think we should say we're interested and ask what it would take to acquire the property."

Councilman Ken Underwood suggested the school board could only gain from selling the property because it is of no use to the board right now.

"If they give it to us, they haven't lost anything," Underwood said. "If they sell it to us, they're that much ahead."

Councilman Brett Gaar said he does not think the school board would give the property away.

"That's an asset to them. If I was them, I'd try to sell it."

Houser also said the town has a few plans for the property it it is acquired.

"We've had in our five-year plan ideas for that as a combination of things," he said via telephone interview. "It would be a park, a school bus stop, a helicopter landing bed for the fire department. There are others, but those would be the main things."

The council approached the school board in the past about buying the property, and Houser gave a brief description of what happened when the talks broke down.

"Right in the middle of what we were doing, Dr. (Faron) Hollinger left and Dr. (Alan) Lee came in. We got right to that point and there was so much turmoil in the school board that they didn't want to tackle it," Houser said at the meeting.

Houser said via telephone interview that the council and school board had discussed the property for around two years before Hollinger retired as school superintendent in 2010.