Charlotte nonprofit losing its building after disputed lease issue with CMS

The Mecklenburg Council of Elders — a nonprofit that offers therapy for kids and parents, resources for those impacted by poverty and violence, and criminal record expungement clinics — will lose its building by the end of May.

The organization has been housed at the old Plaza Road Academy on 1000 Anderson Street for the past five years as a sub-tenant to another group that had a lease with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.

The school district, email records show, decided it would not renew the lease over concerns about the way the primary tenant maintained the property.

Whenever a lease ends, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools follows a public bidding process to determine who the next tenant will be. Surplus or unused buildings can be sold or leased.

The Council of Elders offered to purchase the building, but were told it was only available for lease and the organization must complete a bid first.

The Council of Elders lost a bid in January 2022 to sign a lease for the building after CMS’ Board of Education voted to approve a lease for Charlotte Bilingual Preschool, which was moving out of its location within Hickory Grove Elementary School in east Charlotte.

The Council of Elders found out after the vote that their bid was not presented to the board, said Executive Director Maria Macon. Later, they were told their proposal was missing required financial information.

The council sent a letter of complaint to the district on July 28 saying they were treated unfairly and that they are unaware of Charlotte Bilingual Preschool ever submitting a formal proposal for the building. They said they would like to work out an agreement with CMS to continue utilizing the space.

“Mecklenburg Council of Elders will be … (added) to the homeless population by May 31, if we don’t find a place,” Macon said.

A spokesperson for CMS told The Charlotte Observer the bidding process for the building was handled properly, in the same way it would be for any other building, and that the process is highly regulated by state law.

Dispute over school building use

The process to place a public bid for leasing 1000 Anderson Street began as early as Sept. 14, 2021. The Council of Elders prepared a bound book for each school board member documenting its request, bid, community letters of recommendation and some financial information. Macon says these materials never made it to the board.

CMS says the bid from the Council of Elders was incomplete, which is why only the Charlotte Bilingual Preschool proposal was presented to the board, according to Charles Jeter executive director of government affairs, policy, and board services. Jeter said he did not know what the bid was missing or why it was incomplete.

In an email dated eight months after the vote, an attorney for CMS, Kevin Bringewatt, says the Council of Elders failed to submit the necessary financial documents for the bid. The Council of Elders provided the Observer with copies of email correspondence with CMS on the issue.

Some of these documents show financial information including grants, 501c3 status, and information on how much the group makes in donations and building rentals.

Ultimately, the organization’s bid was determined to be less responsive than Charlotte Bilingual Preschool.

Charlotte Bilingual Preschool did not respond to an email or phone call from the Observer to discuss their plans for the building. Jeter says he doesn’t know if the preschool has signed a lease or when the organization would move in.

The Council of Elders has been told they can stay in the building until a formal application for tenancy by Charlotte Bilingual Preschool is submitted, according to an email last month sent from an attorney working on the organization’s behalf, Ismaail Qaiyim of Queen City Community Law Firm to Bringewatt.

On March 14, Bob Sorrell, a real estate agent with CMS, emailed the organization telling them they must vacate the building because the district expects to sign a lease with the preschool.

A new usage agreement between the Council of Elders and the district would allow the organization to complete one last expungement clinic at the building in April then it will have to vacate the premises by May 31.

What the community may lose

The loss of the building is devastating for the community and the organization’s summer programs, Macon said.

The group’s Juvenile Court Intervention Program, which the Observer has previously reported on, was scheduled to begin again in June, Macon said.

The program allows parents to drop their children off for classes until 6 p.m., and it provides meals for the students, Macon said. The intervention program helps local at-risk youth referred to them by the courts and parents by providing career training, life skills, therapy, and anger management programming.

The diversion program works with judges, social workers and the community to help the students cope with adverse experiences, Macon previously told the Observer.

In addition to their youth programs, the organization provides classes and therapy to parents, and health programs for the elderly.

Council of Elders has a database of those they provide services to and those 4,200 people are counting on them, Macon said. So are the 1,200 Mecklenburg residents they perform criminal record expungements for every year.

Every quarter, the organization performs criminal record expungements for the community and at least 300 community members show up each time, Macon said. The school on Anderson Street is the only building the group has been able to find in Charlotte that is large enough to host these clinics.

Macon asks that anyone in the Charlotte area with an unused building contact the organization.

“We’ve got parents that are depending on us,” Macon said. “I’m not going to let them down.”