LEE COUNTY – The Lee County Board of Supervisors has essentially evicted the labor unions from the Newberry Center building in downtown Fort Madison.
The move came in another baffling vote of the board where two Democrats, Ron Fedler and Matt Pflug, motioned to vote on a $750 per month lease agreement for the space above the Newberry Center that has been leased by the labor unions for years.
The agreement was the second in a series of attempts to provide an agreement to the unions, but at a marked increase in the per month charge.
The county was told this summer that an interpretation of Iowa Code by Lee County Attorney Ross Braden and the state’s auditor’s office indicated the county needed to assess property tax on the portion of the building leased and had to generate a profit with that lease amount.
The new lease agreement followed an agreement that was rejected by the board, two times, at a meeting two weeks ago. That agreement provided for a $500 monthly payment but also required the unions to pick up the tab for the property tax assessment in March and September, as well as any internal maintenance.
But that agreement was voted down by a 3-2 vote with Supervisors Chuck Holmes, Fedler, and Pflug voting against the measure.
Holmes opposed the lease because he didn’t think it went far enough in charging the unions appropriate costs for the county to cover their expenses and generate a profit. Fedler and Pflug opposed the agreement because they didn’t want the cost to the unions to increase.
Two weeks ago Pflug made the motion to consider the agreement to get it in front of supervisors for a vote, when the motion failed 2-3, with Pflug, Fedler, and Holmes again carrying the majority. Pflug offered another motion to have the vote reconsidered, but all five voted the same way, essentially ending the lease relationship. The previous lease expired at the end of August.
On Monday, Pflug again motioned to have the new $750 lease agreement voted on by supervisors. It almost died for lack of a second and, after a brief discussion, Fedler seconded the motion.
Then Supervisor Chuck Holmes broke down the county’s expenses for the building and said any lease that would generate a profit, making it a legal lease, would require a payment of close to $1,000 a month. He included property insurance and maintenance charges in the lease, plus current market conditions for rentals in downtown Fort Madison.
Supervisor Tom Schulz said the insurance and certain maintenance like a roof can’t be included in the profit formula because those would be expenses the county incurred whether anyone rented the space or not, however, he said he did agree with Holmes' figures outside those two issues.
“I don’t think this proposal is reasonable and I don’t think it’s acceptable in Ross’ eyes because it doesn’t show a profit,” Holmes said.
Schulz said if he was an investor in the building, he would be looking at numbers close to what Holmes was suggesting.
“But I’m not. I’m a public servant with a tenant on the ground floor that provides a public service. By having a tenant upstairs, I’m deferring some of the cost to the taxpayer while continuing to provide the service to the taxpayer,” he said.
“That’s paramount in my determinations about this building.”
Pflug said the county needs to give the union a chance to accept or deny the lease.
After the discussion, the vote was called and again Holmes, Fedler, and Pflug voted against the lease agreement being presented to the union tenants, therefore nullifying any chance for the unions to even consider the agreement because it didn’t make it out of the board meeting.
With county supervisors failing to present the union with a lease proposal, they will now have to evict the unions from the building in 30 days.
Schulz then requested the board issue a letter per the contract, which would give them 30 days.
County Auditor Denise Fraise said she would get with Braden on the termination of the lease.
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