BROOKFIELD — School officials learned more about the status of two of the district’s biggest projects.

Treasurer Jordan Weber told the Brookfield Board of Education during a pre-meeting work session Wednesday that they formally closed on the acquisition of Tiffany’s Banquet Center last week, in what he considered to be a “kind of anti-climatic” event.

“A notary came to the office and took about five minutes, (it) actually took longer to go to the bank and supply the money, so that is all good,” Weber said. “A realtor stopped in and said ‘hi’, congratulated us on everything.”

He said the next step is waiting until an unspecified day next month to get keys.

Weber said he also made sure to thank the banquet center’s owners, as they’ve made the process easy for the district in terms of access.

“It’s not normal that you can just, if you’re in the middle of buying a house, you don’t get to pop in whenever you want and start measuring for drapes,” he said. “We went in there — it felt like dozens of times — and we had scores of people in there, so that has really sped up the process and made that an easy thing.”

NEW FOOTBALL FIELD

Weber also explained to the board that the district also opened bids for turf at its new high school football field last week, and they plan to host a bid opening at 11 a.m. March 28.

He credited their high school football coach Randy Clark for the work he and his team have done to raise a “substantial” amount of money for the stadium.

Weber added the amount is “very abnormal” for a school their size and that between the final donations for the stadium’s naming rights, they’ve raised almost $300,000.

With things surging forward with the new football field, the board approved declaring the old field as no longer needed for school purposes and authorized it be sold via public auction through Basinger Auction Service & American Real Estate Specialists.

Weber said he would be directing all questions to them. He told board member Jerry Necastro, who asked if there would be a reserve amount on the property, that they were not placing one on it.

The board of education will reserve the right to deny the winning bidder, however.

Weber said the auction will run for two months, and Basinger will take 6% of the sale, although he believes the cut depends on the final sale price.