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County want shelter land, buildings back But Community Works seems uninterested in returning the property, which is tainted by sex-abuse charges By JONEL ALECCIA TALENT - Forced to take over operation of a Community Works youth shelter closed by criminal sex abuse charges, Jackson County officials also want to take back land and buildings deeded to the agency to run the program, an internal memo said. But Community Works officials have resisted informal suggestions that they return nearly three acres of former public property now valued at nearly $550,000, according to Dave Kanner, deputy county administrator. And county officials are reluctant to pursue lengthy and expensive legal action to reclaim it. "We could argue all day about whether Community Works has a moral and ethical obligation to give that back. The law says they don't," Kanner said Tuesday. "We have no way of forcing that issue without using our power of eminent domain. Do we want to enter into litigation with Community Works?" County officials announced last week that they will take over the Youth Diagnostic Shelter at 5605 S. Pacific Highway, Talent. Community Works was removed from shelter operations because of ongoing criminal prosecution of two former supervisors charged with sex crimes. Running the shelter, which serves 300 at-risk youth each year, will cost the county $130,538 in general funds annually, Administrator Sue Slack reported in an Oct. 2 internal memo to the board of commissioners. Unfilled positions in the Community Justice budget will offset those costs for the first year, but the only way to afford the program in the future will be to cut back in other areas, Slack said. The shelter's annual budget under county operation will be about $600,000, including state contracts. For now, the county tentatively has agreed to lease the facility from Community Works for $1 a year for two years starting in January, officials said. But Slack made it clear that the county wants back the site deeded to the agency to provide shelter service in a 1997 no-strings-attached agreement. "It is further recommended the county negotiate an agreement with Community Works to regain ownership of the shelter and the surrounding property," Slack's memo said. Community Works officials, including director Arnie Green and board president Francene Orrok, said they have received no formal request for the property's return and could therefore offer no formal response. They said the most important concern so far has been restoring badly needed services for youth. Besides, the county did give the agency the property, one board member added. "At this point, it is an asset of Community Works. That's the bottom line," said board member Carole Souza. "I don't think all of that conversation is the most important thing right now." Informally, however, Green and board members have considered - and rejected - the property's return, county officials said. Kanner said he suggested directly in a recent meeting that Green return the property, but Green said his board would prefer a lease agreement. Hank Collins, county director of human services, was more blunt. "Arnie has made it clear to me on any number of occasions that he doesn't intend to return the property," Collins said. "He said he didn't think there was any chance his board would give it back." The situation has focused attention on the 1997 decision to deed the shelter property and buildings to Community Works. The land transaction included no stipulations about performance and no clause that allowed the county to resume ownership if necessary. Former County Administrator Burke Raymond defended the move Tuesday, saying it upheld county policy of allowing third-party agencies to provide needed services. "It was a good decision when we made it," he said. "It may not look like a good decision now, but it was a very rational decision." At the time, Raymond said he believed the move would allow Community Works to improve the dilapidated property and provide youth shelter services. No reversion clause was added because banks said they wouldn't loan Community Works money if they didn't own the property outright, he said. "My personal feeling is that since they weren't able to live up to their side of the bargain, they ought to relinquish the property," he said. "If they can't do the job, they ought to give it back." Reach reporter JoNel Aleccia at 776-4465, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.