NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — The Metro School Board put off making a decision Tuesday night on a controversial deal with Belmont University.
Belmont wants to build a large athletic facility on Metro Schools property behind Rose Park Middle School.
The project was put on hold almost a year ago after NewsChannel 5 Investigates raised questions about the deal and who would benefit from it. Our investigation exposed how the original deal would have benefited an outside youth baseball program run by a high-level Metro Schools administrator. That employee, Tony Majors, was eventually fired for the conflict of interest and, as we also exposed, for misspending Metro Schools money.
Edgehill neighbors have also questioned not only the deal, but whether a private university should be allowed to build on public land.
The two story building will have locker rooms and training facilities for Belmont athletes as well as indoor batting cages that Metro teams will be allowed to use.
Under a revised deal, Belmont will have use of the property for at least 30 years and will pay Metro Schools $35,000 a year.
At Tuesday's school board meeting, board members discussed the deal and project for more than an hour before finally deciding to wait another two weeks to vote on it at the next meeting.
If the school board approves the agreement, it must still be approved by the Metro Council before it is a done deal.
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