Council here has agreed to provide the former Palmerston PUC building rent free to the County of Wellington, which has taken over operation of the former non-profit daycare centre in Palmerston.
While the county won’t pay rent for the facility during the term of the five-year lease, the county has agreed to be responsible for all leasehold improvements and maintenance to the building.
That includes any upgrades to heating or air-conditioning systems, although the town will continue to be responsible for maintenance of the existing systems as long as they are in place, CAO Bill White explained at the Oct. 1 meeting, at which council approved the lease agreement.
“They may well improve upon those systems and if and when they do then they would be responsible for maintaining them,” said White, who noted the town would also be responsible for any structural issues with the building, although none are currently anticipated.
Councilor Ron Elliott said he was initially concerned about providing the building rent free, but changed his mind after learning of the county’s plans for the facility.
“Seeing now the kind of money that the county’s going to be putting into those buildings, I would sooner see them put the money into the building than us collecting rent and having to put into the buildings whatever they need to meet code or whatever,” said Elliott.
“I think at the end of the day this is the best solution possible,” agreed Mayor George Bridge.
“When we get this building back it will certainly be a lot better situation than we had before.”
Bridge said he felt having the county operate the daycare will alleviate the staffing issues, which plagued the daycare when it operated as the Early Learning Centre of Minto.
“When it was a non-profit they couldn’t afford to pay their staff enough to keep them. Now it’s a county staffing level,” Bridge explained.
White noted in a staff report that the lease with the previous non-profit operators expired in March 2010 and had not been renewed for the subsequent three years due to the financial challenges faced by the group.
“The proposed new lease eliminates any further town subsidy to the building and allows the county to develop the location and the new operation at a low cost,” White stated.
