Trending
NILES -- A draft of a lease for the wellness center was distributed Monday to the Niles Park Board, the entity that will directly supervise the tenants the city is hoping to woo into the building.
Council is expected to vote today on whether the safety service director should advertise for bids to lease the building. The bids would have to be advertised for five weeks and the winning bid would have to be approved by council and the park board.
The board, which hasn't met for years, would be the first line of communication between the potential tenants and the administration, along with city Parks Director Carmen Vivolo.
Two of the three members were present. Paul Hake and David Wilkerson both said they are looking forward to getting more involved and expressed interest in helping the city manage the new tenant-landlord relationship.
If the city can find a suitable tenant for about $240,000 a year for three years -- the terms of the suggested lease -- it would save the general fund about $160,000 a year, according to the latest amendments to the city's fiscal recovery plan. Attorney Douglas Neuman, who has worked on the idea with the administration, said the city must ensure the terms of the lease are attractive. The suggested lease specifies that the city would continue to absorb at least some of the utility costs -- up to 100 cubic feet of water and sewer a year and up to 1,250,000 kilowatt hours a year.
The city would continue to maintain the parking lot and landscaping, but the tenant would be on the hook for all interior maintenance, according to the draft.
Whoever leases the building would be responsible for the entire staff and payroll, but the city would require the company to conduct background checks and maintain a list of employees, according to the draft.
Vivolo would check in at the building on a regular basis and relay concerns between the tenant, the facility's users and the board. The building would have to remain a recreation facility, open to the public, on a fee structure that matches similar fees in the area.
The tenants would be allowed to post their own signs, but city council would have to approve any changes to the center's names, which is the Mayor Ralph A. Infante Wellness Center. Mayor Tom Scarnecchia said he would like to see the name changed sometime soon.
While the center brings in about $300,000 a year in revenue, it cost more than $500,000 to operate this year. Because the center falls under the cash-strapped general fund, it has been supplementing the losses, estimated at $1 million by Scarnecchia since it was created about eight years ago.