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Another Santo setback for city Feds say Medford must apply all over again BY JIM DAVIS The Santo Center shell game continues. For the past nine months, the city of Medford has tried to acquire the federally owned building in west Medford so it can be used as a community center. And after months of wrangling, the center seemed headed for that purpose. Until this week. Now, the city finds that it's back at square one after city officials were told they needed to go through the application process once more. "It seems like every time we get close to closure they move the finish line back," said Councilman Bill Moore. City Attorney Ron Doyle said he doesn't know exactly why the city needs to begin the application process again. "I don't know what happened at the federal level," Doyle said. "I really don't know what happened." The Santo Center, originally a U.S. Army Reserve center at 701 N. Columbus Ave., has been used by several nonprofit and local groups since 1997. On June 3, the city applied to the federal government to take the property over. But the U.S. Naval Reserve also laid a claim to the building. After months of negotiations, the Naval Reserve gave up its claim and decided to keep the Naval Reserve Center at its current location at the former West Side School building at 3070 Ross Lane. In return, the city of Medford agreed to pay rent for the building for 10 years at a cost of $440,000. The city also agreed to pay for a $173,000 water line to the building. The city and the Navy spent weeks working on the language of the contract and city officials thought the deal was done. Earlier this month, city officials found that the Santo Center had been removed from the federal surplus listing. This week, Doyle called the federal General Services Administration and learned that the city would have to go through the process once again. Now all federal agencies will have 30 days to lay a claim for the Santo Center. Then local, county and state governments -- including Medford -- will have 20 days to file a claim for the building. Then the GSA will sort through the applications before awarding the property. Medford Parks Director Greg Jones said the clock is ticking on this new application process. "It's my understanding in a perfect world that if everything went click that it might be June 1 that we would be through the full process," Jones said. State Rep. Rob Patridge, R-Medford, a former city councilman who led a charge to acquire the property, said he has contacted U.S. Rep. Greg Walden about the building and said Walden was sending a letter to federal officials. He said that west Medford needs the Santo Center for a community center and the city needs to get the deed to the property before it can make improvements to the building. "The city's worked in good faith," Patridge said. "And I feel like the city is being jerked around." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA