The St. Cloud City Council Thursday voted against a lease agreement for a youth center in the downtown area, passing up five years of free rent from the owner of the building and stopping progress on the project, which has been a goal for the council for the last several years.

News-Gazette Photo/Andrew Sullivan

While the positions of four council members were split clearly during the discussion Thursday night and last month when the lease agreement was first considered, Councilman Tom Griffin paused for a long moment before casting his vote against the lease. He said he ended up siding with Councilmen Jarom Fertic and Jay Polachek because he wanted city staff to investigate the possibility of locating the youth center in the building currently occupied by Southland Christian School on 17th Street, near the intersection with Budinger Avenue.

“I really just wasn’t comfortable that enough due diligence had been put in the proposal,” Griffin said after the meeting.

The proposed lease was for the old D&A Glass & Mirror building at 1022 10th Street. While building owner John E. Moody had offered to allow the city to use the building for free during the five-year lease, the agreement included $250,000 worth of renovations to make the building into a youth center. The money for the improvements would come from recreational impact fees and not taxpayer dollars. The lease also gave the city the option of buying the building after the five-year period.

Both Polachek and Fertic said they were against renovating a private building for the youth center. Polachek also had questioned the programming plans for the center, prompting city staff to bring the local Boys and Girls Club into the discussion. The Osceola County club leader came to the meeting Thursday to represent a commitment to work with the city to develop programs for the center.

Griffin said that through an e-mail from a previous council member he had been made aware of the 17th Street building, the lease of which is due to be renewed soon. He also argued the building would be close to the city’s Civic Center, fields and skate park. “It’s a piece of property that the city already owns,” he said. “It just seemed like the logical choice.”

Councilwoman Mickey Hopper said she was on the council when the previous members discussed putting the youth center in the building on 17th Street. She said it was determined that because of the way the building is laid out, particularly because it is a two-story building, there isn’t enough space for youth center activities, and also staff didn’t want children to have to go up and down stairs.

“We have been talking about a youth center since I have been on the council and before that,” Hopper said. “We just never have stepped up and, you know, spoken for those kids that don’t vote for us. We hear from everybody else. Maybe this is our chance to get them off the streets and give them a place to go.”

Mayor Donna Hart pointed out during the discussion that the 17th Street location would be on the south side of U.S. Highway 192. The proposed lease would have given the youth living on the north side of the city a place to go without having to cross the major highway.

Hart opened the discussion to comment from the public. A couple of parents involved with the local swim team, who had already spoken against the city’s previous decision to cut the heating of the city aquatic center pool during the winter, got up to speak.

“I was taught the old-fashioned way. If you can’t pay for what you got, don’t start anything new until you can take care of what you have,” swim team parent Marjorie Carr said.

Hart, who has been advocating the youth center since she was elected to the council, said that community leaders had identified a need for a center where youth can "hang out" in a safe environment.

“I thought we should have raised the millage rate just a little bit and kept everything, but that did not happen,” she said, later visibly upset when the lease agreement did not pass and the audience clapped.

“I’m glad you’re clapping. It doesn’t help you get your swimming pool back,” she said. “Go on to the next thing. I don’t want to hear another word.”