Town amends theater lease

Larry Hernandez got his lease extended for the Village Cinema last week, with monthly rent coming to $1,500 a month, including $600 plus $900 of in-kind work on the building.

The town council wouldn't budge Wednesday on his request to put off the collection of the $600 cash component for another three months.

Hernandez approached the town a year ago with a plan to take over the space if he could have a year to get it functional again as a theater and more, with his upgrade work paying the rent for the first year.

Hernandez said he's put about $24,000 into upgrades, more than the $18,000 the annual rent would have been. And he didn't have full use of the facility for most of the year, with the city's property, such as old seats and a projector, taking up space. He said the seats are now gone, but it took four dump truck loads to haul them off.

The theater held a formal re-opening ribbon cutting recently, although Hernandez is still offering a lot of free movies for kids.

"It's not like I'm open for business and I'm making hundreds of thousands of dollars every day," he said, noting

he'd brought in $129 that day from 11 customers.

"All of us are trying to work in your favor, but since you're open for business, it changes the rules of our activity, which we are held to" by state laws, Councilmember Keith St. Jeor said.

The council voted to approve the amended lease. Hernandez took Councilmember Merv Schmidt up on his offer to meet on it before he signs it.

In other business, council:

• heard Mayor Bob Poch proclaim Tim Lynch a "true hero among us" after Lynch's saving of three people, including a baby, from a house fire on Camas Street last month.

• accepted a $100,000 grant from the state to carry out climate planning mandated by the state, and approved a contract with planner SCJ Alliance to do the work,

• approved SCJ to update the town's comprehensive plan,

• heard the first reading of Ordinance 832 on a franchise agreement for a coffee shop proposal on 6th Street on the city's right of way for $400 a month, with an annual increase of 3%.