Schuylkill County Commissioners questioned a proposed lease for their Coroner’s Office during last week’s Work Session meeting.
This week, the Commissioners will likely vote on whether or not to approve a lease with Anthracite Radiation Therapeutics Inc., which owns the property in New Philadelphia where the Coroner’s Office is located. The company is owned by David Moylan, who serves as Schuylkill County Coroner.
The new lease is for $2,500 a month. That’s a jump from the current lease rate of just $200 monthly.
The County said it analyzed the property included in the lease and the new rate is actually lower than what could be gotten on the open market. So, while it’s a stark jump from the current lease rate, the County feels as if it’s getting a good deal on rent if the new lease is approved by Commissioners.
The reason the new lease is needed, according to Commissioners Chairman Larry Padora is because the property where it’s located is in the process of being sold. Padora said the new owner is interested in keeping the County Cororner’s Office as a tenant.
But the new lease isn’t a done deal as it was presented to Commissioners last week.
Commissioner Gary Hess didn’t like that the proposal given to the board at the Work Session didn’t specify an end date. He also didn’t like that the proposal was backdated to November 1, 2024.
Padora quickly jumped in as Hess was expressing his concerns and said, “I’m not backdating.”
He also said this new lease agreement will hopefully give the Coroner’s Office a permanent home, even though it’s essentially renting the space now and going forward.
If not, Padora said the office will be moved to a County-owned property.
“If it doesn’t work out, the Coroner’s Office is going to be moved to a County property and that will be the Coroner’s Office from now until the end of time. Moving around the Coroner’s Office does not make sense. It shouldn’t be all over the place,” Padora said.
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