NORWICH – A resolution authorizing county officials to enter a lease agreement with a Norwich office complex was passed by the county’s Board of Supervisors with only one opposing vote Monday, bringing the years-long search for additional space for the Chenango County court system one step closer to fruition.
County Board Chairman Lawrence Wilcox is expected to sign a lease agreement with Randal Hadeed, president and CEO of Who’s We?, LLC as early as today. Under the terms of the agreement, local legislators will enter into a 30-year lease for 20,000 square feet inside the Eaton Center (owned and operated by Who’s We?), located on Eaton Avenue in the City of Norwich. Space will be used to house the county’s family, surrogate and drug courts, as well as court clerks, the court library, the District Attorney’s Office, the Probation Department, and all respective staff.
County Attorney Alan Gordon explained the move of the county court facilities - presently located on the third floor of the County Office Building - is to satisfy requirements of the New York State Unified Court System that mandates additional space to accommodate a growing number of county, family and surrogate court cases in New York’s Sixth Judicial District.
“Rental became the option that proved most cost effective for us,” he said. “After we determined that rental was the best option and that we wanted to keep the court facilities in Norwich, the Eaton Center became our focus of attention.”
The lease agreement stipulates that the county pay a flat fee of $350,000 per year for the first ten years, not withstanding extraordinary events such as natural disaster or energy crisis that might significantly effect day-to-day costs of operation. After the first ten years, rent will be subject to inflation but capped at a 3 percent increase, which county bookkeepers say equates to an average $425,000 per year for years 10-20. The cap raises to 3.5 percent for years 20-30, meaning rent will round out to approximately $550,000 per year for the remaining ten years of the lease.
Add to that an estimated $1.2 million for utilities and another $600,000 designated for unforseen miscellaneous expenses over 30 years, and officials calculate total costs of the lease to reach roughly $15.1 million.
