MIDDLETOWN, Ohio — Middletown City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to allow City Manager Paul Lolli to enter into a lease agreement for Central Connections with the option to purchase the property.
There was a lengthy discussion before council members voted because they didn’t receive the lease contract until Tuesday afternoon.
The cost of the lease for the remainder of the year is $50 per month, or $200 for the rest of the year.
After that, the city may purchase the property for $1.8 million. The city must exercise the option to purchase before Dec. 31, 2023, according to the lease contract. Law Director Ben Yoder said the building and property have been appraised at $2.5 million.
Lolli said it will cost the city about $10,000 a month to operate the center: $5,000 in insurance and $5,000 in utilities. He said two staff members, Health Director Jackie Phillips, and Jeri Lewis, events coordinator, are operating the center in the interim. He said they have recruited 10 volunteers to assist in running the center.
After the “due diligence” is complete, if the purchase of the property is recommended, the option to purchase will be brought before City Council for further approval and appropriation of the necessary funds, according to the staff report.
Lolli said if the city didn’t lease the building, it would have to close immediately and the 100 members who are using the facilities won’t receive “mission critical services.”
If the city purchases Central Connections, Lolli said the 13 board members have indicated they want to resign. When told that, council member Rodney Muterspaw said: “We want them out.”
The city won’t inherit any of the center’s debt, city officials said.
“We don’t know what debt is out there,” Yoder said.
By Dec. 31, he said, the city will have “a better handle” on the center’s finances.
At one time during the meeting, it appeared Mayor Nicole Condrey would vote against the lease.
“I don’t have enough information,” she said. “There are so many unknowns. I feel uncomfortable.”
Then Muterspaw added: “We know it’s a mess. We didn’t create the mess. I see both sides of it.”
In the last week or so, Lolli said, thanks to city staff, the day-to-day operations at the center have been stabilized.
The goal is for another agency to operate the center, hopefully, sometime in 2024, Lolli said. He said the city will take precautions to reduce the risk of the financial struggles repeating.
Last month, Diane Rodgers, executive director of the center, was terminated by the board “for cause” and escorted out of the building by Middletown police, according to Rick Fishbaugh, board president.
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Rodgers is under investigation by the Middletown Division of Police and the Ohio Bureau Criminal Investigations regarding finances at the center, according to police Chief David Birk. No criminal charges have been filed and the investigation is ongoing, he said.
The center has temporally closed the café and bar and reduced operating hours, according to an email the Journal-News received from Jim Berry, a board member. On Monday, the center changed its operating hours to 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday with reduced staff, he wrote. The center was open from 8:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Berry said the Central Connections board of directors has been “gathering as much data as possible about the financials and the operation of the center” by talking to employees, suppliers, volunteers, and members of Central Connections.
The goal, Berry said, is for the city to keep “mission critical operations” in place.
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