Fort Walton Beach Council agenda — 08-03-09 special council-budget review — reading text

based on the square footage they occupy. In the instance of the Radio Club, you currently occupy 19.2% of the building space. The meters for .the electricity and water /sewer /refuse will remain in the City's name and each tenant will be billed monthly accordingly. To give you some idea of the expense you will be billed, I have researched the Gulf Power bills for the last 12 months and the avetage is $ 502 pet mouth. Placing a smaller 2 cubic yard dumpster on the premise as opposed to the 8 cubic-yatd-cutrently at t_he location-an& - itw-Judingwater-... and sewer charges, I would estimate these charges to be $ 156 per month. Therefore, Pd estimate utilities for the entire building to be $ 658. The Radio Club' s 19.2% of that would calculate to $126. 108-  City of Fort Walton Beach America'sMost Beardfu[Beaches , - V, P. J. Box 4009 * 107 Miracle Strip Parkway SW * Fort Walton Beach, FL 32549 f'" 850) 833 -9507 * Fax (850) 833- 9931' TDD ( 850) 833 -9925 Administrative Services Department February 17, 2009 Playground Amateur Radio Club, Inc Attention: Mr. Steven McCarter. P.O. Box 873 Ft. Walton Beach, FL. 32549 Re: Lease Agreement Dear Mr. McCarter: Per you request last week during our telephone conversation, please find enclosed a copy of the written communication sent to the Playground Amateur Radio Club regarding the utilities for space your organization leases from the City of Fort Walton Beach at 17 First Street, SE. Included in the attachment is a copy ofthe lease as executed by both the City and the Radio Club which identifies the lessee' s responsibility for utility charges. If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at 850 -833 -9506. Best regards; Mark Wiltsie Administrative Services Director cc: Robert T. Mearns, Acting City Manager 012- 09 109- n Based on the above, the City will commence billing for the utilities commencing January 1, 2009. As I am sure you will have questions regarding this matter, please feel free to give me a call at 850/ 833 -9506. Best Regards, W 1, Mark Wiltsie Administrative Services Director Xc: Joyce Shanahan, City Manager Brandy Wunker, Financial Services Director 110- j a LESSEE: Playground Radio Club LESSOR: City of Fort Walton" Beach LOCATION: 17 First Street, Southeast DESCRIPTION:. West end of old City Hall Building ACREAGE: NA LEASE TERMS: 10 years, beginning on August 1; 1999 EXPIRATION OF TERM: July 30, 2009 INSURANCE: Lessee shall obtain* and keep.. in -force, ' with the City as additional insured, commercial general liability insurance including personal injury, bodily injury, broad form property damage, operations hazard owner' s protective coverage, contractual liability and products and completed operations liability in limits not less than $ 1, 000, 000 for each occurance and in the aggrgate. SPECIAL TERMS/ CONDITIONS Lessee shall repair, times promptly replace and all maintain in good condition the inteiror of the premises. PAYMENT: 1. 00 per year, payable in advance for the term of this lease. PLAYGRO -UND sPAU8. MY/ DISCRIPT. ION  City of Fort Walton Beach America' s Most Beautiful Beaches 107 Miracle Strip Parkway, SW P. . Box 4009 x Fort Walton Beach F132549 u 850) 833 -9504 x Fax ( 850) 833 -9640 www. fwb.org TDD ( 850) 833 -9925 Robert T. Mearns March 17, 2009 Acting City Manager rinearns@fivb.org Playground Amateur Radio Club, Inc. Attention: Mr. Steven McCarter PD Box 873 Ft. Walton Beach, FL 32549 Re: Default of Lease Dear Mr. McCarter: The Playground Amateur Radio Club ( Club) leases 1, 054 square feet of space from the City located at 17 First Street. The Club was informed on November 25, 2008 that it was required to pay for Utilities. You discussed this with Mr. Mark Wiltsie and were informed that utility payments were required and were provided a copy of the lease in a letter dated February 17, 2008. The club was billed for electricity, water and sewer use on Fehr 17., 2009, and that bill is now delinquen-L Lease Section 13: Default, specifies that failure to perform any covenant or condition of the lease agreement for thirty days constitutes default. Inasmuch as the payment of utilities is a condition of the lease, non -payment would constitute a default condition. Since the utility bill remains unpaid, and is now delinquent since March 9, 2009, the thirty day time span for termination of the lease began March 9, 2009. Hence, your lease will terminate April 10, 2009. Please contact me at your earliest convenience to discuss how you wish to proceed on this matter. Smcerel obert T. Mearns Acting City Manager 112-  Page 1 of 2 Helen Spencer From: Robert Mearns Sent: Friday, March 20, 2009 8:09 AM To: Helen Spencer; Mark Wiltsie Subject: FW: Playground Amateur Radio Club From: Steve McCarter [ mailto: kb4oid@yahoo.com] Sent: Friday, March 20, 2009 12: 30 AM To: Robert Mearns Subject: Playground Amateur Radio Club Mr Mearns, I am writing to you tonight, on behalf of the Playground Amateur Radio Club, concerning recent events transpiring with our lease of the space in the city's old town hall building. I welcome the chance to discuss some of the concerns in your letter to us dated March 17th, 2009. First a little about our club. The Playground Amateur Radio Club came into being about 40 years ago. Our club was originally founded by individuals who wished to serve the populace of Okaloosa county in times of emergency by providing emergency communications capabilities. Amateur radio is one of the few hobbies that requires a federal license to participate, and we are specifically entailed by the FCC with providing a ready pool of trained radio operators and facilities for use in times of emergencies. When most other forms of communications fail during a natural disaster, ham radio has consistantly provided communications in the stead. Many times, ham radio has been the lifeline and only method of communication in or out of a disaster area. In the last four decades or so, we have provided thousands of hours of community service to the area by providing.desperately needed emergency communications in times of disaster and by sponsoring the infrastructure needed to provide those communications. In addition, our club has a long history of fostering education through college scholarships and scholastic achievement awards programs at the middle and high school level. As a non -profit corporation, registered in the state of Florida, we are fairly limited in the ways we are allowed to make money doing what we do. As a club, we have always had only meager resources and generally make just enough money to pay our operating expenses and fund our educational programs, mostly through membership dues and the profits of a once yearly Swapfest (a public, radio oriented, flea market gathering). I don't have to tell you that times are hard and getting more so every year. For the past few years, we have barely broken even on the Swapfest and our club membership has dwindled in recent years, both due to a waning interest by the public in the hobby and the fact that the median age of ham radio operators is certainly in the " seniors +20" category now. We realize that we have, for many years, enjoyed a so- called " free" ride from the city on the utilities in our facility, but we also feel that we have given much to the city in return. We have been blessed to have a 30 year+ partnership with the city and have had a place to meet and call our own, which makes the sudden hostilities that have grown in the past month somewhat surprising and almost inexplicable. While I disagree with the apportionment method Mr Wiltsie choose to apply (square footage is certainly NOT a fair way to apportion utility use), I really wish to address the timing of this issue. The original letter, supposedly sent to us in November of last year, never reached us. It was not sent to our address of record, as 113- 3/ 20/2009 -  Page Z of Z shown on the first page of the lease, but instead to a former member. For all practical intents and purposes, it was never delivered to us. The first we heard of any utility bills is sometime around the middle of February, when I found one laying on the floor of our foyer one Sunday afternoon. After finally determining who had sent it and that is was NOT a joke, I had a phone conversation with Mr Wiltsie. He explained the rational behind the apportionment and