LUCERNE — The county Board of Supervisors signed an agreement Tuesday to purchase the Alpine Senior Center Thrift Shop in Lucerne. The purchase will mean a much-needed cash infusion for the senior center, according to Jim Swatts, chairman of the board for the center.
The county will lease the thrift shop back to the senior center for a dollar a year, according to a 10-year lease agreement also signed Tuesday. It has the option for another 10-year renewal.
County Chief Administrative Officer Kelly Cox explained that the L-shaped property the thrift shop sits is now in escrow. The lease goes into effect the day the sale is complete, said Cox, which should happen in a week or two.
An informal county appraisal put the property”s purchase price at $150,000, which will go to pay off back debts encumbering the senior center.
Cox noted that in addition to the asking price, part of the cost for maintenance would now fall to the county. The lease agreement specifies that the county would maintain the building”s roof and structural integrity.
In addition, he said the agreement was a double win for the county and the community. Not only would the building it be an asset to the county, but the agreement it would ensure the building”s continued availability to the community. “Even if for whatever reason the senior center discontinued operating, we”d still have that building as a community building for community gatherings,” he said.
Dist. 3 Supervisor Denise Rushing noted that the center has seen the community through a number of changes, and will keep its doors open to the community in both of the center”s buildings.
Swatts called the agreement “positive in every way.” The center”s executive director Jay Jackson echoed the sentiment, saying it was an equitable solution to the center”s financial problems.
Swatts recounted that when he took over as chair of the board of directors in June of 2005, the center had five bank accounts and seven liens against the property. Tax debt created the largest, he said.
“We almost had to close the doors,” said Swatts. “This will get the senior center out of debt, up and running and back the way it used to be.”
Cox said that while it was his understanding that some of the liens against the property had been cleared up, a lot still appear in the preliminary title report.
All of the state and federal funding currently available to the Alpine Senior Center goes to pay its bills and buy its groceries for the “Meals on Wheels” program and other meals the center provides, said Swatts, which he said barely makes ends meet, if at all.
Cox said he wished the county could do more to help the Alpine Senior Center, as its main building on adjoining property is in need of repair. He noted that one of the questions in a 20-question survey going out in the mail to Lucerne”s residents asks whether the community supports the idea of the county”s Redevelopment Agency providing some sort of assistance to the senior center.
A memo accompanying the purchase and lease agreements noted that the Alpine Senior Center has faced “severe financial difficulties for the past year or so.” Swatts said the county District Attorney”s Office is conducting an investigation into suspected embezzlement by the center”s previous director. “The D.A. is looking at the books to see if anything warrants going after,” he said.
In the meantime, the senior center has rented some of its rooms out to help alleviate some of its financial burdens, and fundraising efforts continue.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com
