Mark Schlueb from the
Orlando Sentinel reported the disconcerting facts back in early 2010. The first paragraph pretty much says it all:
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Orlando SentinelSentinel ExclusiveOrlando is out $200,000 for breaking lease, letting school in freeFebruary 06, 2010 | By Mark Schlueb, Orlando SentinelWith no public discussion, Orlando has booted a nonprofit driving school from a city-owned building near downtown so it could turn the property over to a new charter school being launched by a high-ranking city official.
It cost the cash-strapped city more than $200,000 to get out of its lease with the Florida Safety Council eight years early, an expense the City Council wasn't told about. At the same time, commissioners voted two weeks ago to lease the building to the fledgling Central Florida Leadership Academy rent-free for its first three years.
At the time the city began discussing terminating the Safety Council's lease, it was wrestling with how to make up a $41 million deficit. And while backers of the charter school say it will eventually repay the city for its short-term losses, they acknowledge there's no guarantee that will happen.
"I'm shocked to hear the city wasted $200,000 so they could rent this building for free," City Commissioner Phil Diamond said. "Anytime you have high-ranking city officials doing business with the city it raises concern. I think it stinks to high heaven."
The charter school, which opens its doors to sixth- and seventh-graders this summer, is the brainchild of Deputy City Attorney Jody Litchford. The school's board of directors initially had three members: Litchford; her husband, attorney Hal Litchford; and another Orlando attorney, Jean Wilson. It has since added three more members, including Kathy Russell, a staffer in Mayor Buddy Dyer's office.
"It's something I care about, something I believe in. I don't think there's anything improper about a city employee bringing a great idea to the city," Litchford said. She added that she'll receive no income from the school and checked with the state Ethics Commission to make sure her involvement violated no rules.
The plan for the charter school received high marks from Orange County Public Schools. Its application included letters of recommendation from Orlando police Chief Val Demings, the city's parks-and-recreation director and three assistant city attorneys, among others.
It is modeled after Hyde Schools, which operates boarding schools in Connecticut and Maine — which one of Litchford's sons attended — and charter schools in New York and Washington. The school will focus on students who may have struggled in other schools, preparing them for college while building character.
Students will have primary responsibility for discipline and leadership, and families will be required to participate. Plans for the school call for adding classes until it serves 348 students in grades six through 12 by 2015.
Likewise, Litchford has always received high marks during her nearly 30 years with the city. She holds the No. 2 spot in the city's legal department, sometimes filling in as city attorney to advise the mayor and City Council. Commissioner Patty Sheehan, whose district includes the charter-school property, said Litchford's ethics are beyond reproach.
Litchford's involvement was no secret when the City Council voted to lease the roughly 27,000-square-foot building on Primrose Drive, near Orlando Executive Airport, to the school.
"There's no nefarious cover-up," Sheehan said. "This school is a public benefit. I think it's a great public use, and I fully support the Central Florida Leadership Academy."
Dyer supports the plan, too, comparing it to other city initiatives for children, such as the city-sponsored Parramore Kidzone and Nap Ford Charter School.
"We've been focused on at-risk kids. This Hyde School model fits perfectly what we're doing," Dyer said.
Even so, commissioners — Sheehan included — were never briefed on how much it cost the city to break Florida Safety Council's lease. Some commissioners were left with the impression that the Safety Council had chosen to move on its own.
But the Safety Council, which pays about $67,000 a year in rent, had no plans to move. The 57-year-old organization teaches safe-driving and motorcycle classes to about 80,000 students a year, most of them at the Primrose building. When Safety Council board members received notice in May that the city was ending their lease, they at first hoped the decision wasn't final.
"We were pretty shocked," Safety Council spokesman Glenn Victor said. "We were quite surprised by the way it all transpired. It was kind of a weird deal."
The organization plans to move to another building on East Colonial Drive, where renovations are under way.
The city lease contained provisions requiring it pay the Safety Council to end the lease early. Records show it's costing the city $201,473, including $129,600 cash and $71,873 in waived rent and fees.
City staffers were discussing the cost of breaking the lease last spring, even as the council was discussing layoffs and deep budget cuts, records show. But those costs were never disclosed to council members.
"I don't know why they wouldn't know that, to tell you the truth," Dyer said.
E-mail and other records indicate Litchford participated in those lease discussions and received reports from an assistant city attorney working on the project.
The school will pay no rent for the first three years but agreed to provide after-school care at no cost to the city. In year four, it will begin paying the city half the capital funding it expects to receive from the state. And in years five through nine, as the school's financial footing becomes more secure, it will also pay an additional $19,443 a year.
Because the level of state funding for charter schools several years from now can't be known, there's no way to say exactly how much rent the Central Florida Leadership Academy will eventually pay. But Litchford said it will likely top $110,000 a year — more than what the Safety Council paid.
Litchford and Dyer said the charter school's rent will include an extra amount meant to reimburse the cost of buying out the Safety Council lease.
"The point wasn't to make the best business deal for the city," Litchford said. "But I think it turned out that way."
Two weeks ago, the City Council voted 6-1 — Diamond voted no — to approve the lease. The agreement also allows the school to use a nearby city-owned gymnasium, and the fields and volleyball courts next door in Festival Park.
Diamond lauded the school's mission but said there should have been discussion of the best use for the building, given budget cutbacks. He said the city could have earned much more in commercial rent during the nine-year term, perhaps more than $2 million.
"The bottom line is that the city will be losing a tremendous amount of money that could be better spent on pressing needs for our neighborhoods," he said.
Mark Schlueb can be reached at [email protected] or 407-420-5417.Copyright 2011 Orlando Sentinel