Council: Nonprofits can continue occupying
city property at minimal cost
January 23, 2015
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
Three area nonprofits will continue to get city property at bargain prices in exchange for public benefit the City Council decided at the January 20 meeting.
The council decided that the Boys & Girls Clubs of Santa Clara Valley, Chamber of Commerce and Santa Paula Society of the Arts respectively can continue to occupy the clubhouse at Harding Park and split space at the Depot at minimal rent, an issue that had initially been brought up when the city was considering fiscal belt-tightening.
Whether allowing nonprofit use of city owned property at minimal cost would be considered a gift of public funds also had to be considered.
According to the report by Elisabeth Paniagua, assistant to the city manager, over the past several years the city examined fair market values and renegotiated leases with six private entities increasing annual revenue by $76,000.
If fair market rent was charged the three nonprofits it could bring approximately $4,000 to $5,300 each month to city coffers.
Policies, noted Paniagua, have remained virtually the same since the 1990s.
Virginia Gunderson of the Santa Paula Society of the Arts disagreed with the staff report noting the organization gives 5 percent of art sales to the city.
And on weekends, when the SPSA opens its Gallery and Gift Shop, volunteers greet visitors and acts as a mini-tourism bureau directing people to restaurants and other attractions.
“We don’t mean to be critical,” but Gunderson said the SPSA also does facility repair work and stocks restroom supplies.
“We’re trying very hard to be a benefit to the community,” she noted, “and we do pay rent... “
Chamber President/CEO Fred Robinson noted the business organization is celebrating two anniversaries this year: “The original Santa Paula Merchants Association got together in 1915,” and the chamber itself was formed in 1940.
Whether a centennial celebration or 75th anniversary, said Robinson, the chamber is the oldest such organization in the Tri-Counties.
The chamber is not only concerned with economic development but also the funds that visitors bring to the city and it also functions as a tourism bureau, two functions “They cut quite a bit back on over the years and we’ve picked up.”
The chamber office he noted serves as “Goodwill Ambassadors and directs them to places where they enjoy our community... “
The chamber provides much public benefit including honoring public safety personnel and educators and acts as “stewards of our community.”
When the historic Depot was threatened with destruction Robinson said the community stepped up and purchased it; the structure later wound up in city hands.
The Boys & Girls Clubs said Executive Director Jan Marholin “Provides a positive place for kids,” most at risk that need a safe harbor to study and socialize especially during those “latchkey hours” when children might be going home to an empty house.
The club helps “parents remain in the workforce and support local economy,” by providing after school services to about 90 children and youth and vacation/summer programming for up to 200 each day.
But such service has a cost and “We’re always struggling with finances and funding... we’re grateful just to pay our utilities.”
Other clubhouses in Fillmore and one proposed in Piru are at minimal cost.
Councilwoman Ginger Gherardi said the three organizations have a proven worth and proposed leases extended to 10 years.
Councilman Jim Tovias agreed but said he would also like to see financial reports of the nonprofit agencies using city property, especially as the low rents are “a gift of public funds... “
Vice Mayor Martin Hernandez said he could not support a 10-year lease agreement due to future unknowns including a “bleak picture” if the city was forced to sell assets.
A 10-year lease said Gherardi could have provisions to cover such necessities and she again objected to annual financial reviews, a “waste of staff time” to review.
The council decided to proceed with lease agreements charging each entity $12 a year with provisions.
