Nonprofit New Operation Cooper Street, which operates out of a city of Punta Gorda-owned building and land leased for $1 per year, received a reprieve Tuesday. City Council members voted 4-1 to grant a six-month interim lease to the organization’s current board.
The recreation center at 650 Mary St. has provided child care, after-school activities, mentoring programs for high school graduates and senior services in the city. In addition, it has a partnership with Florida Gulf Coast University, which provides a small business development center for people of all ages who want to start a business.
At the end of the six-month lease, the city will invite other nonprofit organizations to apply to take over the New Operation Cooper Street board and allow the current board to reapply, under the terms of a new lease with the city.
Meanwhile, City Attorney David Levin, who was asked in July to evaluate the city’s older leases to help standardize a lease form, is fine-tuning language to ensure compliance with state statutes.
At previous meetings, Council debated whether to terminate New Operation Cooper Street’s lease after asking for certain financial documents. The city contended the nonprofit’s board didn’t provide all of the information.
Current board President Jaha Cummings maintained he complied with the request.
This came at a time when the nonprofit’s board was in transition after the former board president Dr. David Klein died in August. Cummings, a board member and former city councilman, stepped up to head the organization.
Cummings has since retained attorney Ed Wotitzky to represent the nonprofit. Wotitsky spoke on behalf of New Operation Cooper Street at Tuesday’s Council meeting.
After reviewing the nonprofit’s current lease and the state’s constitutional requirements, Levin discovered that it falls short in one area.
While the city lease to the nonprofit satisfies the state Attorney General’s Office’s criteria of serving a predominant public purpose, Levin said, it didn’t comply with case law recommendations regarding degree of control. He explained the city must be allowed to have oversight and access to financial documents, which show the organization can and does maintain liability insurance.
Also, if the nonprofit seeks to sublease and bring in other groups or organizations, the city should be informed and have the right to become involved, Levin said.
Councilwoman Debi Lux argued the lease should be allowed to expire naturally in 2028.
Councilwoman Donna Peterman argued, “This organization lost its child care license, so that’s why they outsourced one of their main purposes to the [Punta Gorda YMCA].”
Addressing Lux, Peterman said, “You are relatively new to the area, but I will say that since 2018, they have not provided any metrics about the services they’re providing.”
Councilwoman Melissa Lockhart sided with Peterman and referred to 13 parameters suggested by Levin, including a liability policy, mission of the organization, providing a year-to-date audited financial statement, having nonprofit status and other disclosures.
“If the operation was running as it should, then those parameters … would have been given to us in a day, and they simply weren’t,” Lockhart said.
The interim lease, if signed in December, will expire in June.
The next City Council meeting is at 9 a.m. Jan. 3, 2024.
