The Harlem City Council approved moving forward with a lease agreement for the Harlem Civic Center during the meeting on Monday, March 27.
City Manager Debra Moore told council members some slight changes had been made after the meeting Thursday night. Council member Al Reeves asked that verbiage about late fees be included in the agreement.
“Normally how it reads is (due on the 1st and) anything after the 7th or 10th a late fee incurs,” Reeves said. “I would put verbiage in it that anything after the 15th would result in termination of the lease.”
During the city council work session on March 23, Moore told council members the agreement would be a 30-day lease with the $500 a month rent due on the 1st of each month. The agreement would cover the entire building, including the front and the back.
“I know there have been some issues pertaining to the back room which was supposed to be leased through the city and that wasn’t always happening,” Moore previously said. “So that back room actually becomes part of the leased piece of the property….”
Harlem Mayor Roxanne Whitaker previously asked that the lease include something about allowing the church that uses the back room to remain there and thanked Moore for including it.
At the March 23 meeting, Keith Wallace, the treasurer of the Harlem Arts Council, was at the meeting and spoke to council members about some concerns they had with the drafted lease agreement. One had to do with the section regarding repairs and who would be responsible. Moore said she was working with the city attorney on addressing those concerns.
