Red Cross lease on hold
By DAN MORIARTY
Staff Writer
WESTFIELD -The discussion of a resolution to lease City Hall space to the Westfield Chapter of the American Red Cross slated for tonight at the City Council’s Legislative & Ordinance Committee will be postponed.
Ward 2 Councilor James E. Brown Jr., chairman of the L&O said this morning that he removed the agenda item at the request of the local chapter.
“They’re still reviewing the proposed lease at the national level in Washington, D.C., so we’re putting it on hold until the national organization has given its blessing,” Brown said. “It doesn’t make a lot of sense to put time in reviewing a document that may be the wrong version. The national Red Cross may decide it doesn’t want to do this.”
Brown said that he plans to deal with the issue at a Feb. 27, 2012, L&O session if the review at the national organization is complete.
“So we will not have an agreement in place for March 1, 2012, but it could take them that long to get back to the local level with a decision,” he said.
Mayor Daniel M. Knapik requested City Council approval of a resolution authorizing of a four-year lease agreement with the Westfield Red Cross Chapter. Knapik is submitting a resolution to the City Council “authorizing a lease with the American Red Cross for the use of certain rooms in city hall.”
The Westfield Red Cross Chapter Board of Directors also has to approve the lease proposal which will provide administrative and classroom space on the third floor of city hall, classroom space on the second floor and a testing area on the first floor.
The four-year pact will give the Westfield Chapter of the American Red Cross time to seek another suitable location for its administrative and programming functions, Knapik said, adding that he was stepping in to provide the office space in an effort to keep the Greater Westfield Chapter of the Red Cross in Westfield, bucking a National Red Cross consolidation process of folding small chapters into regional Red Cross districts.
“My understanding is that there is a significant concern at the national level to cut expenses” by closing and consolidating smaller chapters, Knapik said prior to the Jan. 19, 2012 council session. “We had to find a cost-effective way to keep the local chapter in Westfield. The long and short of it is that we don’t want this to be gone from Westfield.”
“If we lose our local chapter, we’d be consolidated into the Springfield Regional District,” Knapik said. “My concern is that if (another) regional disaster occurs, all of the resources would go to Springfield. Having our own executive director positions the city to be better able to procure assets in those situations.”
“The chapter will pay monthly rent with an annual escalator,” Knapik said. “The term of the lease is four years or until they find other suitable space. There is no penalty for early termination.”
Knapik said the goal of the local chapter is to vacate its building at 48 Broad Street by March 1, 2012. The local chapter, established in 1923, has been ordered by the national organization to divest ownership of the facility at 48 Broad St. The chapter has been at that location since 1945 when that building was donated to the Red Cross by Whip City Manufacturing Co.
Dan Moriarty can be reached at [email protected]
