Explanation
Background: The City leases its property located at 475 Elwood Avenue, since 1996, to various tenants for use as a children’s day care center and for the provision of a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services funded Head Start preschool program that serve children 3 to 5 years old and an Early Head Start program for infants and toddlers. The City was very recently notified that its current Tenant, The Columbus Urban League, has withdrawn from the Head Start preschool program and will no longer be providing Head Start early education services as of December 31, 2024. The Columbus Urban League’s lease of the property is in its sixth renewal with the current term ending October 31, 2025. This legislation authorizes the Director of Finance and Management to execute a Lease termination agreement with The Columbus Urban League to end the current lease effective December 31, 2024 and to enter into a new Lease Agreement with the Young Men’s Christian Association of Central Ohio, (YMCA) a non-profit corporation, as Tenant for a three year initial term, effective January 1, 2025, for the lease of 2,904 rentable square feet located at 475 Elwood Avenue for the provision of a Head Start preschool educational programs and services.
Fiscal Impact: The new Lease Agreement will generate the same amount of annual rental income ($18,150.00) to the City as the previous lease with the rent proceeds to be deposited in the General Fund
Emergency Action: This legislation is presented as emergency measure to allow for the immediate execution of the Lease Termination Agreement and the new Lease Agreement so that provision of Head Start services to the children currently enrolled in the program can continue without interruption beginning in January 2025.
Title
To authorize the Director of Finance and Management to execute a Lease Termination Agreement with The Columbus Urban League and to enter into a Lease Agreement with the Young Men’s Christian Association of Central Ohio (YMCA) for lease of space located at 475 Elwood Avenue; and to declare an emergency.
Body
WHEREAS, the Department of Finance and Management, through its Real Estate Management Office, leases the City-owned property located at 475 Elwood Avenue to The Columbus Urban League as the site of the Southside Head Start Child Care Center for provision of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services funded Head Start preschool programs; and
WHEREAS, The Columbus Urban League has withdrawn as a provider of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Head Start preschool programs and:
WHEREAS, the Young Men’s Christian Association of Central Ohio will become the provider of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Head Start early education programs located at 475 Elwood Avenue; and
WHEREAS, this change in providers necessitates that the City terminate its existing lease with The Columbus Urban League for its use of the 475 Elwood Avenue property and that the City enter into a new Lease Agreement with the YMCA for its use of City’s 475 Elwood property as the Southside Head Start Child Care Center to continue providing U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Head Start early education programs to children in the neighborhood; and
WHEREAS, an emergency exists in the in the usual daily operations of the City in that it is necessary to authorize the Director of the Department of Finance and Management to execute a Lease Termination Agreement with The Columbus Urban League and to execute a Lease Agreement with the Young Men’s Christian Association of Central Ohio to allow for uninterrupted provision of Head Start early education programming to neighborhood children and for the immediate preservation of the public health, peace, property, safety and welfare; now, therefore:
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS:
SECTION 1. That the Director of Finance and Management be, and hereby is, authorized to execute those documents, as approved by the Department of Law, Division of Real Estate, necessary to enter into a Lease Agreement Termination Agreement by and between the City and The Columbus Urban League for the rental of real property located at 475 Elwood Avenue, Columbus, Ohio 43207.
SECTION 2. That the Director of Finance and Management be, and hereby is, authorized to execute those documents, as approved by the Department of Law, Division of Real Estate, necessary to enter into a Lease Agreement by and between the City and the Young Men’s Christian Association of Central Ohio for the rental of real property located at 475 Elwood Avenue, Columbus, Ohio 43207 to provide for an initial three (3) year term with the option to renew for three (3) additional consecutive one (1) year terms.
SECTION 3. That for the reason stated in the preamble hereto, which is hereby made a part hereof, this ordinance is hereby declared to be an emergency measure and shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage and approval by the Mayor, or ten days after passage if the Mayor neither approves nor vetoes the same.