OXNARD : Day-Care Provider May Be Replaced

The Oxnard City Council on Tuesday will consider soliciting bids from child-care providers to replace the debt-plagued program offered by New Beginnings Christian Center at the South Oxnard Center.

New Beginnings notified the city last month that it intended to terminate its day-care program at the center within 30 days because of continuing problems paying the $5,000 monthly rent.

“We have cut costs, reduced expenses and staffing levels to the least permissible by the state, to no avail,” Pastor Lonnie G. McCowan told the city in a letter.

New Beginnings owes the city $27,100 in back rent, according to a city report.

The church first offered a day-care program at the center in September, 1990, but experienced financial difficulty almost from the beginning, said Jack C. Lavin of the city’s Parks and Recreation Department.

“New Beginnings has been a troubled tenant,” Lavin wrote in a report to be presented to the council Tuesday.

At the meeting, the City Council will consider several options that include reducing the rent charged to New Beginnings, soliciting bids from other day-care providers, replacing the day-care service at the center with another use or closing the 5,221-square-foot area used by New Beginnings.

In his report, Lavin said the city would benefit by the continued availability of child care if another provider steps forward.

He reported that one agency has already contacted the city.

At a council meeting earlier this month, parents of some of the 70 children enrolled in the New Beginnings program appealed to the council to help the program survive.

“Some things are more important than receiving fair-market value,” said parent Marvin Petal, referring to the rent charged New Beginnings by the city.

But Lavin said making a special deal for New Beginnings would amount to a subsidy by the city, and could be viewed as a precedent by other agencies that lease city property.