San Benito County is reviewing nonprofit organizations according to guidance from the board last June. One on the list is Go Kids, which has been using county land to operate a state-subsidized childcare center.
Larry Drury, the executive director of Go Kids, argues the nonprofit has been renting the 2.3-acre site on 5381 Fairview Road for $1 a year. Drury claims the county wants the organization to buy the property. Ray Espinosa, the county administrative officer, said the organization has had use of the site free of charge for more than 30 years.
“They actually have not been paying a dollar a year,” said Espinosa, the county administrative officer. “They are not paying anything for the site.”
The two parties are in negotiations and will meet Feb. 24 to discuss options for the site that appraisers value at $500,000, according to a report issued to the county in May 2014.
“They wanted us to buy it. Well, I don’t have $500,000,” said Larry Drury, the executive director of Go Kids. “We operate, sometimes, on a shoestring out there.”
Drury issued a letter addressed to the residents and voters of San Benito County dated August 2014 saying Go Kids has been renting the property for $1 annually and now the county is asking the group to buy the property for $500,000 or lease it for $2,800 a month until it is sold.
Espinosa says it is not that simple and there are inaccuracies in the letter, including the line about annual $1 rent.
“There’s no value that was set in stone about, ‘You owe us this amount of money.’ It was all verbal,” Espinosa said.
Go Kids runs child development centers in San Martin, Gilroy and Hollister, according to its website. The Fairview site currently serves only low-income families, Drury said. The nonprofit contracts with the state to provide subsidized childcare,meaning many parents don’t pay anything while others contribute between $21 and $346 a month for full-time care, he explained in an email.
In San Benito County, Go Kids keeps a database of residents who request subsidized childcare services but are still on the waiting list because their needs were met partially or not at all. When Go Kids Special Projects Director Kendra Bobsin checked the list Tuesday, 465 children were waiting for services. Drury said closing the Fairview center would put 97 more students on that list.
“It’s very hurtful for families,” Drury said. “Very hurtful. A lot of families will not have another arrangement so they’re going to have to stay home and take care of the kids.”
But Espinosa notes the plan is not to throw anyone out.
“The bottom line is we don’t want to put anyone out,” Espinosa said, “Obviously, they’ve been doing a lot of work here for a long time.”
Drury is especially hopeful the nonprofit can keep the current site because the group has secured two grants worth a total of $103,000 to renovate the Fairview center, but only if the organization can show it signed a three-year lease for the property.
The grants are facilities renovation and repair funds offered by the California Department of Education. A grant worth $35,000 was awarded to the Fairview center but only if the work is done by June 2015, Drury said. A second grant, worth $68,000, must be used by June 2016, he said.
Espinosa argues that other solutions may be mentioned at the upcoming meeting.
“There’s nothing set in stone right now,” Espinosa said. “That’s part of why I’m a little frustrated right now is that they’re going out and talking to people.”
