Cumberland County will consider changing the terms of its leasing agreements after some commissioners raised concerns about deals they deemed unfair to the county.
As the board considered during its Monday meeting whether to approve a new three-year lease the county has with the nonprofit Cumberland County Communicare, which provides social services and juvenile crime prevention programs, some commissioners were skeptical of the lease’s generous terms. According to an April 30 memorandum from County Attorney Rick Moorefield, the three-year lease for 14,494 square feet of office space at 109 Bradford Ave. would cost the nonprofit $42,808 a year and require the county to pay for utilities and janitorial services.
Chairman Glenn Adams said he believed that was too generous on the county’s part, noting that the proposed rent for the space averaged $2.95 per square foot.
“I think at least, at a minimum, they should have to provide the utilities and the janitorial [services],” he said. “We need to have staff try to bring us a policy back on leasing space and renting out space … We still have to, at the end of the day, be good stewards of taxpayer dollars.
“I do think this organization does a tremendous job for the community,” Adams continued. “But there are a whole lot of nonprofits out there who don’t get this kind of lease agreement to be able to do that and then get funds on top of that.”
Commissioner Jimmy Keefe agreed, calling the proposed terms a “net loss” for the county.
The board ultimately unanimously voted to table discussions about the lease until county staff could present potential policies on leasing county property at an upcoming agenda session. Communicare’s lease was set to end June 30 but will be extended until Aug. 1 because of the ongoing discussions.
ARPA meeting brings new programs
Immediately following the regular meeting, the board’s American Rescue Plan Act Committee met to discuss additional options to use the county’s remaining ARPA money. Keefe, Adams and Vice Chairwoman Toni Stewart sit on the committee.
The committee unanimously voted to approve a new defibrillator exchange program proposed by Keefe. The program will see 130 automated external defibrillators, also known as AEDs, currently in use by county fire departments go to the county for all its facilities, Keefe said. Fire departments will then use $476,023 in ARPA funds held by the health department to purchase 130 of the same AEDs used by the Cape Fear Valley Health system. That way, Cape Fear Valley Health can replenish disposable parts of the fire departments’ AEDs, such as batteries and pads, at no cost to the county.
Keefe said he proposed the program because the cost of disposables for AEDs has increased as much as 300% since 2021.
“We have seen an absolute phenomenal increase in the need for AEDs with the opioid crisis, and these are getting very expensive to maintain,” he said.
The county currently has 64 AEDs in its facilities, many of which are only “entry-level” AEDs with batteries that will expire in the next six months, Keefe said. Those old AEDs could go to the school system, Keefe proposed, while Adams suggested donating the AEDs to local nonprofits.
Keefe highlighted the importance of having easily accessible AEDs throughout the county.
“There’s a thing called the three-minute rule that if you can get to a patient within three minutes, their chances of survival are about 70%,” he said. “If you get down to eight minutes, it yields only a 20% chance [of survival], and 15 minutes, less than 5% chance.”
All of the AEDs going to the county will be inspected, serviced and certified before being installed in county facilities, Keefe said. He hopes to have all AEDs in place by Oct. 1.
The committee also unanimously approved using $300,000 in ARPA funds to support a pilot program for opioid education in Cumberland County Schools.
County Manager Clarence Grier said county staff would work with the school system to determine the specifics of the program before the new school year begins in August.
Should the pilot program be successful, the county will also consider using some of the $30.7 million it received in opioid settlement funding to establish the program as a long-term project. That funding will be received in yearly installments through 2038.
In other business:
Reporter Lexi Solomon can be reached at lsolomon@cityviewnc.com or 910-423-6500.
This story was made possible by contributions to CityView News Fund, a 501c3 charitable organization committed to an informed democracy.
