The Athens-Clarke County Government Operations Committee on Sept. 15 reviewed its unified leasing policy and directed staff to return with a more structured community benefits test and alternative rate tiers rather than immediate changes to lease charges.

Committee members discussed how the current policy has evolved since its 2019 inception, including repeated temporary $1-per-year lease extensions and the elimination of a previously open-ended community benefits agreement (CBA) used to reduce rents. Committee chair opened the meeting by saying the agenda would cover the leasing policy and sought approval of the Aug. 18 minutes, which the committee approved without a recorded roll-call vote.

Why it matters: Committee members said the county lacks a defensible, uniform way to determine when a nonprofit or quasi-governmental tenant qualifies for reduced rent. Staff warned that the county's property portfolio includes a mix of historic and purpose-built buildings, tenants that have invested in space, and several quasi-government entities whose funding arrangements complicate a one-size-fits-all rate.

Staff presentations focused on three subjects: historic policy context and current lease expirations (presented by Angel), maintenance and life-cycle cost patterns (presented by James), and options for next steps. Angel summarized the history of the unified leasing policy, noting that the county moved from a case-by-case system before 2019 to a unified policy that established tiered rates by building size and a CBA option for substantial public-benefit reductions. Angel said the CBA process had been criticized as "open ended" and difficult to defend because it relied heavily on commissioner discretion.

Angel told the committee there are nine nonprofit leases in the county portfolio; seven of those leases were set to expire in 2026 (Angel corrected an earlier date for HCDC to 2026). He also noted that most nonprofit leases had been reduced to $1 while policy work continued, with exceptions such as the Taylor Grady House lease, which he described as about $6,000 a year and includes some revenue sharing. Angel said the CBA previously allowed up to an 80% reduction in rent and that the current base policy limits reductions to narrow abatements without a clear evidence-based test.

James, speaking on maintenance, explained the county distinguishes day-to-day maintenance and repairs from capital reinvestment such as roof or HVAC replacement. He said recurring lifecycle projections show predictable spending but that large capital costs create spikes that tenants typically could not absorb. James gave the following examples: a roof or major capital replacement can be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars (he cited a $300,000 example), and an isolated tenant infestation required roughly $20,000 for treatment; the county sometimes recovers a portion of such costs from tenants under agreement.

Committee members raised multiple policy concerns: the fairness of continuing $1 leases while others pay market or tiered rents; the treatment of quasi-governmental entities such as the library, public defender-related tenants and Advantage Behavioral Health; treatment of historic, purpose-built buildings (for example, Miriam Moore Center and Taylor Grady House); and whether the county should extract revenue sharing from event rentals (staff said current leases generally require a revenue share and that Taylor Grady pays semiannually). One member said, "I feel like 10% seems kind of low to me," referring to the existing revenue-share practice; staff confirmed a 10% revenue-share clause is applied in some leases.

Rather than proposing immediate rate changes, staff presented three near-term recommendations that the committee endorsed for additional work: (1) retain size-based tiers as a base-rate framework but provide alternative tiering or more granular tiers for committee review; (2) develop a structured, evidence-based CBA test that lists clear categories (for example, capital investment in county property, provision of required public services, or alignment with strategic-plan priorities) and a points/tier threshold for reductions; and (3) provide fuller maintenance and lifecycle-cost data and revenue-share histories so the committee can assess fiscal impacts.

No ordinance or lease changes were adopted at the meeting. The committee asked staff to return with specific options and data for possible phased implementation; staff said the mayor and full commission would have final authority to adopt any policy changes. Next steps staff listed included bringing refined tier options, maintenance/lifecycle cost breakdowns, and nonprofit revenue-from-rent reports to a future committee meeting for further direction.

Votes and formal actions: The committee approved the Aug. 18 meeting minutes (vote recorded as "all in favor"; no roll-call provided). The committee directed staff to draft and return with a structured CBA framework, tier alternatives, and maintenance and revenue data; this was recorded as committee direction rather than a final policy change.

Ending note: Staff said any new policy would likely be implemented gradually as existing leases come up for renewal and that some long-term agreements (including those tied to tenant capital investments) would remain governed by their existing terms until their expirations or mutually negotiated changes.