The City of Clearwater and the Clearwater-Clear Lake Food Shelf are one step away from signing a lease agreement for the use of the Lions’ Pavilion.

 

Monday, a group representing the food shelf was present at the city council meeting to discuss the proposed lease, which requires a $500 monthly payment to cover the city’s expenses.

 

The discussion focused on three issues: meeting room access, a freezer and the amount of rent.

 

Food Shelf Co-coordinator Karie Gohman asked if the food shelf could utilize the adjacent meeting room when necessary. She said sometimes there are multiple deliveries during hours of operation, and the volunteers need extra space for sorting.

 

“Today we not only had a delivery from Second Harvest - that brings in the majority of our food, but we also had two other rescue deliveries, one from Coborn’s and one from Target,” she said. “We sort through it and check the dates to make sure it’s still good and then we’re able to hand it out to the clients at the food shelf.”

 

Gohman said they wouldn’t use the meeting room if it was being rented out at the time.

 

Members of the council had no problem with that request.

 

Gohman said the food shelf also has a trunk freezer that was located in the kitchen area but was moved into the meeting room when the city maintenance department was working on the floors of the pavilion.

 

“We have a padlock and a sign on it,” she said. “It’s been there over a year and it’s never posed a problem.”

 

Councilman Richard Petty said he had no problem with the freezer staying in the kitchen as long as there was language in the lease stating the city was not liable if anything happened to it.

 

Gohman said the last issue was the amount of rent.

 

“We want to discuss reducing our rent or maybe even waiving it,” she said. “We just feel that we are providing a service to the residents here in the city.  About 96% of our clients are from Clearwater.”

 

Mayor Pete Edmonson spoke about how the city came up with the $500 per month figure. He said in the past, the Clearwater Lions used to donate money to the city, which would cover the cost to operate the building. He said the amount fluctuated, and the council decided to sign a lease agreement with the Lions to set a specific amount that would cover things like utilities, maintenance and insurance. The costs were estimated at about $6,000 a year.

 

When researching the terms of the lease, Administrator Kevin Kress discovered that under state law, the Lions couldn’t legally use gambling funds to pay rent for the building. To solve the problem, the council decided to ask the Lions to donate money to the food shelf. In turn, the food shelf would pay the city, which would cover utilities and other costs.

 

He said, in effect, the Lions are paying the rent, with the money being passed through the food shelf. And the Lions still make separate donations that the food shelf keeps.

 

“I don’t see the dollars coming out of the budget of the food shelf,” he said.

 

Petty said if the rent wasn’t being paid, the city would be subsidizing the food shelf by providing space for free.

 

“The city would actually be paying for something for a non-profit,” he said. “I don’t want to be in that role to treat one non-profit better than another.”

 

The council agreed to make an addendum to the lease addressing the meeting room access and the freezer.

 

Edmonson said they would also have staff do some research on the current pavilion operating costs to make sure the amount of rent was accurate.

 

The amended lease will be brought before the council at the August meeting.