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Council reviews reduced lease for nonprofit Finding Serenity and Amazon partnership data
Summary
Council considered a reduced lease for Finding Serenity in county-owned Barnett Building and heard detailed Amazon donation pickup counts; staff and council discussed rent, utilities, hazardous materials, and draft lease language ahead of final reading.
Council held second-reading discussion of an ordinance to lease county-owned space at 1221 Colonial Commons Court (the Barnett Building) to Finding Serenity, a nonprofit partner affiliated with the Women's Enrichment Center, at a reduced lease intended to support a public benefit.
Julie Walters, representing Finding Serenity, described the group's partnership with Amazon and the volume of donated goods the organization distributes to other nonprofits. “We picked up 10 pallet loads on November 14... That ended up being 1,268 items,” Walters said, and gave a second example of a Dec. 1 pickup totaling 1,467 items valued in the tens of thousands of dollars. Walters said the program now involves 27 nonprofits and that Amazon requires donated items be distributed for free, not resold.
Council members and staff discussed lease details including the monthly rent (clarified as $100 per month, not $100 per year), responsibility for utilities and HVAC, insurance language, and hazardous materials handling. One council member asked whether utilities were included in the $100 monthly rent; staff and the mover clarified the lease should be read as $100 per month ($1,200 per year) and that utilities and maintenance language would be refined before final approval.
Walters testified Amazon separates and removes hazardous items at its facility, and she said Finding Serenity would obtain documentation to confirm that practice for the record. Council members asked staff to tighten sections of the lease (allowed uses, insurance provisions and hazardous materials handling), and one member recommended drafting a clear county process for future nonprofit use of county assets.
The council expressed general support for the nonprofit's work and thanked Walters for the detailed inventory; the matter will return for final reading after staff and the organization incorporate clarifications about utilities and lease language.
No formal vote on final lease terms was recorded at this meeting; council discussed amendments and asked staff to prepare updated lease language.
