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Commission approves lease renewal for county storage building, sends lease to property and budget committees for review
Summary
The commission approved a multi-year lease renewal for a white block building used for county storage and equipment but amended the action to send the agreement to the property and budget committees for further review and to preserve a 60-day termination option.
The Roane County Legislative Commission on Monday approved renewal of a rental agreement for a county-used storage building, but added committee review and termination protections after commissioners raised questions about equipment stored there and potential future plans for county-owned facilities.
The lease covers a white block building adjacent to the sawmill and near the county's former Casa Walker site; county staff said the building houses sheriff's equipment, an EMS trailer and tools used by county crews. Commissioners expressed concern that moving county property would take time and that any plan to vacate the facility should be coordinated with the property and budget committees.
Commissioner Ferguson moved to approve the lease and to refer it to the property and budget committees for further consideration; the motion included direction to preserve the county's existing 60-day termination option in the lease. Commissioners discussed an alternate friendly amendment to convert the agreement to month-to-month but then withdrew that amendment after staff explained the existing lease already allows termination on 60 days' notice under certain conditions.
County executive staff and the county attorney advised that the commission could approve the lease tonight and simultaneously refer the matter to committees for recommendation; committees would then review whether to exercise the 60-day termination right or to make other changes. The commission approved the lease with the referral by voice vote.
Commissioners stressed the need to account for county equipment stored in the building and to coordinate any future move with departments that use the space. The county attorney noted that the county's ability to exercise a termination depends on moving county-owned equipment to another county-owned storage facility; those logistics remain to be resolved by staff and committees.
The commission recorded the approval and referred the lease to the property and budget committees for further recommendation; staff said the earliest committees could return a recommendation to the full commission would likely be June.
