For the second time in two months, an intermediate appellate court has ordered the city of Waco and a foundation that controls the Sanger Avenue School to try to resolve their ongoing dispute about the fate of the historic school through mediation.

In a two-page, supplemental order released Thursday, the three justices of Waco’s 10th Court of Appeals overruled many of the city’s objections to an April 14 mediation order and sent the parties into negotiations. Retired State District Judge Phillip Zeigler, of Gatesville, will serve as mediator.

The old school at 622 N. 17th St., which closed in 1974, was heavily damaged by arson in October 2008.

The Sanger Avenue School, which closed in 1974, was heavily damaged by arson in October 2008.
Rod Aydelotte/Tribune-Herald

A shell of its brick walls is all that remains, and the city said it constitutes a public safety hazard.

Judge Gary Coley Jr. of Waco’s 74th State District Court ordered the 105-year-old structure demolished last December.

But that order was stayed when LaNelle McNamara, an officer of the Sanger School Foundation, appealed to the 10th Court of Appeals.

The city since challenged McNamara’s authority to represent the foundation and whether the foundation was properly formed, has sufficient members and is operating legally.

In its supplemental order, the court instructed the foundation to provide to the mediator a week in advance of the mediation copies of the resignations of former members of the foundation board and a resolution by the board designating a representative and an attorney for the foundation.

Foundation’s purpose

The foundation was started 14 years ago with the goal of renovating the building for public use.

But the board never met, and four of its members resigned.

Texas law requires nonprofit corporations to meet regularly and to have a minimum of three members.

McNamara said Thursday she welcomes the mediation order and hopes to be able to stave off demolition while a two-man crew works from the outside of the building to salvage the bricks in hopes they can be used in its restoration.

McNamara said she; her former husband, John B. McNamara III; Waco architect B.J. Greaves; and Nicole Gripp, a legal assistant in LaNelle McNamara’s law office, are now the members of the foundation board.

Gripp confirmed Thursday that she is on the board, but Greaves said while he has been “advising and consulting with the board,” he is not a board member.

John McNamara has said he has served as president of the board but was never a board member. He did not return phone calls to his law office Thursday.

“I think the court did a good job on this order to give us some flexibility,” LaNelle McNamara said. “We really don’t know exactly what is going to happen, but you just have to go with the flow and see what we come out with.”

Safety a concern

Waco City Attorney Leah Hayes said the city’s primary goal in the case is public safety.

“I can only state the city’s position,” she said. “From our side, we are concerned in the safe condition of the premises.”

McNamara said the foundation spent $66,000 for workers and materials to shore up the walls and another $24,000 for a secure fence around the perimeter of the lot.

twitherspoon@wacotrib.com

757-5737

RELATED SEARCHES

• Sanger School filings lend no proof to lawyer's case for representation
• Sanger School Foundation brings questions about requirements of nonprofits
• Mediation will go forward in Sanger Avenue School dispute
• City of Waco wants out of Sanger Ave. School mediation after alleged death threats
• Dispute over Sanger Avenue School ordered to mediation
• City officials confused by Sanger School Foundation appeal
• Fight over Sanger Avenue School demolition continues
• Unless another reprieve granted, historic Waco school faces demolition
• Sanger school's fate still unclear despite meeting