CLEARFIELD – The Clearfield County Commissioners unanimously approved terminating a lease agreement with the Clearfield County Economic Development Corp. (CCEDC), also known as Clearly Ahead Development, during Tuesday’s meeting.
The county has been leasing Suite 4 on Spruce Street from the CCEDC. It has used the space to house the Clearfield County Conservation District (CCCD) and the Penn State Cooperative Extension and for storage of county records and equipment for the past five years.
Prior to the vote, Commissioner Joan Robinson-McMillen said the county had recently started looking at more affordable space for its offices and for storage. She specifically said they looked for space, which also included utilities to make it easier to budget for.
Commissioner Mark B. McCracken said the county started shopping around and comparing costs when it learned what it was expected to pay the CCEDC in 2016. The cost to lease Suite 4, he said, was expected to jump to $58,000 in 2016, and the county expected utilities to be more than $20,000.
McCracken explained that when the commissioners started collecting information and comparing costs for the various, other spaces, it would end up budgeting just more than $53,000 per year for them. “It would be a savings of over $20,000 even with all the different locations,” he said.
Robinson-McMillen indicated that the county’s current lease for Suite 4 with the CCEDC provided for a 60-day out.
Commissioner John A. Sobel said he would make a motion to terminate the county’s lease with the CCEDC, which was seconded by McCracken. Solicitor Kim Kesner suggested that the commissioners amend the motion to include the manner of delivery to eliminate problems regarding the notice being effective date of notice or date of receipt.
Sobel amended his original motion to indicate that the county’s notice of lease termination would be hand-delivered to the CCEDC office on Tuesday. It was seconded by McCracken and carried by a 3-0 board vote.
Additionally, the commissioners unanimously approved a lease agreement with Clearfield-DFC LLC, in care of PennMark. It was for a 1,435-square foot space to house the county’s 250 election machines at a location behind the new Visit Clearfield County office in the Save-A-Lot Plaza.
Robinson-McMillen noted that the space will make it easier for election equipment to be set up for programming. The space, she said, will cost $8,400 per year and includes utilities; the county’s lease will run for three years through 2019.
The commissioners approved two, separate lease agreements with Harry J. Salvatore pending the solicitor resolving some revisions. These leases were for office spaces along Route 322 across from Lock Haven University Clearfield Campus.
The first space, which will house the CCCD, is 1,406 square feet and will cost $14,060. The second space, which will house the Penn State Cooperative Extension, is 1,577 square feet and will cost $15,770. Both spaces included utilities, according to Robinson-McMillen.
Robinson-McMillen asked the board to approve the lease agreements with Salvatore pending the solicitor’s revisions, as the staff at the CCCD and Penn State Cooperative Extension wanted to start moving in the near future.