15 - Waiver for Event Center RentItem No. 15
TO: Mayor & City Council
Grayson Path, City Manager
FROM: Janice Ellis, City Clerk
SUBJECT: WAIVER FOR EVENT CENTER RENT
BACKGROUND: On July 22, 2019, Ms. Samantha Hughes entered into a Lease Agreement with
the City of Paris to rent the Event Center at a monthly rate of $1,200.00 (located at 1875 Fitzhugh
Street) for a period of three years, beginning on August 1, 2019. Under the terms of the Lease,
Ms. Hughes was to maintain the building for meal services and other related activities, including
preparing, packaging and serving food. This service was and is being provided to children at the
Boys and Girls Club and youth at City Square. Ms. Hughes was receiving State funding in the
amount of $3.00 for each child she served through the program which helped offset the costs.
STATUSOFISSUE: Due to Covid-19 impact, Ms. Hughes reports that she originally served 300
kids per day, but now is down to 90, because the Boys and Girls Club had to cut their numbers.
daily basis and they are serving an estimate of 115 children. She said they had to get creative on
the space to allow for social distancing, but simply could not refuse a child. Ms. Woodruff from
Cityi So uare/Teen Center at Oak Park reocorted roximatelo 20 teeno were
received a hot meal on a daily basis, which was served by Ms. Hughes.
Ms. Hughes contacted City Manager Grayson Path in September 2020 to inforin him that due to
CoVid-19, the State had cut her payments and therefore she was unable to pay the rent. She had
in fact missed a few payments up until this point. Mr. Path agreed to forego pursuing this so long
Is Ms. Hughes kept him informed. Ms. Hughes was able to regain her financial assistance from
the State and made a payment in November 2020. Mr. Path agreed to forgive her prior rent
payments missed that summer given the State did not compensate her for that time period. In
December 2020, Ms. Hughes reached back out to Mr. Path and asked if we would consider waiving
her rent for the foreseeable future — given the amount the State was paying her vs. the reduced
number of kids she was serving, she was unable to afford the monthly rent. Mr. Path requested
that she provide the City with financial information to support this request. If everything checked
out, Mr. Path and Ms. Hughes agreed to recommend to the City Council waiving her monthly rent
through May 2021 to get through a few more months of CoVid- 19.
It took some time, but City staff has reviewed financial information provided by Ms. Hughes and
spoken to representatives at the Boys and Girls Club, as well as City Square/Teen Center. Based
on this information, city staff believes that Ms. Hughes is providing a much needed benefit to the
children and youth of Paris. In addition, we did not see any concerning issues in the financial
information provided, but rather it all seems to sup%iort It"osition that with the monthlgj, rent, her
state payment is outweighed by her costs.
BUDGET: The City will not receive revenue in the amount of $1,200 until June 2021, Ms. Hughes
however is still making payments for utilities at the building, thus the City's expense is minimal
other than missed leasing of the building for events, which would be difficult during CoVid-19
anyways had there not been a lease for the space.
RECOMMENDATION: A Motion to waive the monthly rent of $1,200 until May 2021 and to
forgive the missed payments to -date.