FORT MADISON – The Lee County Board of Supervisors is leaning toward extending its ownership of the building that houses the Newberry Senior Center in downtown Fort Madison.
After a town hall meeting hosted by Supervisor Tom Schulz last week, the board discussed again Monday the status of the building and decided to have a group meet with UFCW Local 617, the union that rents out the second floor of the building.
The union currently pays $400 a month, but that lease expires at the end of August.
“I’m certainly hoping we can keep this thing open for at least a year or two while we work through some long-term solutions,” Schulz told other Lee County Supervisors Monday morning.
No action was taken on a recommendation from the county’s Building Study committee to put the building up for sale.
Supervisor Matt Pflug suggested talking to both Fort Madison and Keokuk about senior citizen services because the county also owns the Heritage Center in Keokuk.
“I want to get a feel for what the future looks like if we say we now take a look at the Heritage Center as well. What happens to that whole program?” Pflug said.
He said he believes Newberry has more participation with people coming in and playing BINGO, yoga, and other things.
Supervisor Ron Fedler said he’s had a lot of comments from people in his district on the northwest side of the county who use it for not only meals but for exercises.
“Of all the people that contacted me, only one said shut them down and don’t spend the $30,000,” Fedler said.
The county currently spends about $40,000 a year on the building and recoups the $4,800 in rent from the union. They will now be charged roughly $2,600 in property tax on the building per a notation from the state auditor’s office. County officials have said the county would receive 20% to 30% of that back as part of the county’s levy.
Pflug said the county should open a dialogue with the two cities and see if it's something they would be interested in helping resolve.
Schulz said he’s had casual conversations with Fort Madison officials about the Newberry Center.
“I do think they would partner with us to try and make sure there was a long-term solution in place,” Schulz said.
“There is a knowledge within the city government that it is a vital program, but whether it’s vital enough for a checkbook to be involved is another situation. But just being involved in planning in and of itself could be highly beneficial.”
Lee County Recorder Nancy Booten, who chairs the county’s building study committee, mentioned donating the building to Milestone’s Area Agency on Aging, who provides meals and related senior services out of the Newberry Center, if they had an interest in taking over ownership of the building.
Pflug said the Milestones board of directors were to meet this week but didn’t know if that topic was on the agenda. Schulz said Milestones may have to find other sources of revenue to support owning the building.
Fedler said his takeaway from the town hall last week was that people might be willing to contribute more to the operations if the county were to keep the building open.
Lee County Auditor Denise Fraise said the county needed to meet with the union, who occupies the upper floor of the building for 400/month rent. The lease ends at the end of August and the county would need to figure out how to move forward.
Schulz said it wouldn’t make sense to do a month-to-month because the county is on the hook for property taxes if they are charging rent.
Pflug and Supervisor Chuck Holmes both agreed to meet with the union to discuss the agreement with the county going forward. Seyb also asked Booten to join the group in those discussions.
“We’ve discussed this and leaning very much toward maintaining that. I don’t see a problem reaching out to the union and working something out, but also meeting our statutory requirement for a lease. I want to make sure whatever we’re doing, we’re doing on the up and up there,” Seyb said.
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