The Town of Jasper and the Grande Yellowhead Public School Division school board are planning a meeting this August to discuss the terms for the new site of the proposed high school.

According to an agenda item from the July 6 public session of council, “It is anticipated that council and the board will meet in August to review and formalize a memorandum of agreement.”

All town councillors would likely not be present at the meeting, which is to take place by late August, although senior town staff and Mayor Richard Ireland will likely take part.

Town manager George Krefting, who recently met with GYRD School Superintendent Dean Lindquist to “review and begin the task of developing a draft memorandum of agreement to formalize the terms and conditions of the exchange of land for the school,” said that he could not speculate about the content of that memorandum.

The town laid out terms it would need for the construction of the high school on the dog park several months ago. Council told the GYRD if they had guarantees that the site of the current school would be remodeled and re-landscaped to match the current dog park, all at zero cost to the town, then the school could build the new building on the existing dog park.

According to a June 2 letter from GYRD board chairman John Stitzenberger, “Our board wishes to clearly establish through a memorandum of agreement the conditions for restoring, landscaping and fencing, to ensure that this condition is achieved.”

Of the concern that no costs be borne by the municipality, the letter states “Our board acknowledges your concerns and agrees to this condition with the understanding this requires agreement between our board and the council. This agreement would identify the extent of the legal costs to be incurred by our board through defining the parameters of legal representation for the municipality.”

It also states that the board “does not wish to abrogate or diminish the right of Jasper residents to due process,” including adequate consultations with Parks Canada.

Nikki Gilkes, communications manager with Grande Yellowhead said that school board members had not formally met this summer to discuss the terms set down by Jasper town council. As such, she said that the details of the memorandum of understanding were still being worked out and would not be fully known until the town and board sit down together.