The new rental agreement for the building in downtown Grants Pass includes one key clause the library would not negotiate on. The county will no longer be able to kick the library out for no reason with just 30-days notice.
Board Chair Andreas Blech was disappointed by the decision to remove that termination clause.
“This is a huge win for the library, but it's very bad for the other 65,000 residents of Josephine County," he said during the Tuesday meeting.
Back in January, the Board of Commissioners voted to exercise that termination clause for the Grants Pass Library in an effort to get them to renegotiate the lease agreement.
Commissioners were supposed to approve that negotiated lease back in August, but Board Chair Blech brought back the old 'for-convenience' termination clause last-minute and got the support of Commissioner Ron Smith to vote with him. This time, Smith joined Commissioner Chris Barnett to approve the agreement.
Assistant County Legal Counsel Leah Harper noted that the so-called ‘for-convenience’ termination clause was originally included because at the time, the county owned all of the books. Getting kicked out of the building only meant the library staff had to leave.
"Foregoing concerns for business operations, a 30-day no cause termination is very unusual," Harper said. "The reason for that is that the business needs to find a new place. It needs to pack up its stuff and leave."
The only other rental agreements the county has with no-cause termination clauses are for office space inside of buildings. All full-building lease agreements for county-owned buildings require a reason for termination.
“We had both sides come to the house on this and we've listened for how many months now," said Commissioner Chris Barnett. "I just really think that it's time to go ahead and do something good here.”
The library will agree to pay $1,453 a year for the five year lease, along with an upfront payment of $20,424, all to replace the aging roof. The library district will also pay for all indoor and outdoor maintenance of the building.
The Josephine Community Library District director said they’re happy about the approval and are ready to sign the new agreement.
