The Otsego-Northern Catskills Board of Cooperative Educational Services is looking at moving its administrative offices out of the Frank W. Cyr Center in Stamford.
The board gave the go-ahead at its most recent meeting to architects Bernier & Carr Associates of Watertown to proceed with the feasibility study, said District Superintendent Marie Wiles.
The plan would call for dividing its 56 office staff between two occupational centers, at Grand Gorge and Milford.
If it is financially worthwhile to make the move, Wiles said, it would not occur until the summer of 2010.
The building is owned by the nonprofit Catskill Mountains Educational Center.
Group business manager Sharon Meeker said the funds from the BOCES lease pay for electricity and maintenance on the building.
"We are looking at ways to keep BOCES here," she said, including applying for grants to offset rising utility costs.
The Cyr Center is a former hotel built in the late 1890s, she said, and it was donated by a local businessman in 1967 to be used for educational purposes. BOCES moved into the space that same year.
If BOCES moves, "I don't know how we will keep the doors open," she said, though the group is exploring possibilities.
The space at the occupational centers is available because building projects completed in 2001 included plans for increased enrollment, especially in alternate and special education, Wiles said.
The enrollment increase hasn't happened because districts decided to keep more of these students at the component districts, she said.
If the space is used for offices, there would still be room at the occupational centers for future growth.
The move would save about $250,000 a year, Wiles said.
It was uncertain whether these savings would pay for the changes.
