River Heights • In a valley with a critical shortage of child care, a northern Utah nonprofit says it is being forced to sink money into a legal spat that it could otherwise use to create more options for parents.
The squabble between the Boys and Girls Club of Northern Utah and the Cache County community of River Heights has been brewing for nearly two years, stemming from an August 2022 pact in which the nonprofit agreed to lease a city-owned building for use as a preschool.
Last year, after a series of roadblocks prevented the Boys and Girls Club from opening the preschool, River Heights sued the nonprofit, alleging unpaid rent and a refusal to vacate the property. Now, the Boys and Girls Club says the city’s resistance to resolving the case is hurting the nonprofit’s ability to provide services.
“The city has dug their heels in,” said the nonprofit’s attorney, Jeff Colemere. “They’re unwilling to negotiate reasonably with a resolution. And the sad part of this situation is that every dime that goes toward litigation is money that could be spent on the welfare of children in the community. Every single dime.”
The city’s lawyer, Jonathan Jenkins, said he disagrees with the Boys and Girls Club’s defenses and assertions. He provided no further comment.
New day care faced challenges
Before signing the lease for the building at 420 S. 500 East, the nonprofit and River Heights agreed at least one boys’ and one girls’ restroom would be dedicated solely to the preschoolers and that the school would have its own entrance to prevent disruption from two tenants occupying other rooms in the building.
One of the tenants is disabled — and has many clients who also are disabled — and neither the designated adult restroom nor the entrance that was dedicated to existing tenants was accessible for that population. This left the tenant no other option but to use the preschool restroom and entrance. The nonprofit’s director, JeuneElle Jeffries, said she had no prior knowledge of this.
The Boys and Girls Club agreed to a lease for eight rooms but could only immediately use half of them. Two rooms had to be used for storing items the city left behind, Jeffries said, and another two lacked heating, leaving them unusable.
All of those issues, according to the nonprofit, meant the building did not meet the standards for a preschool.
Jeffries said her organization made several attempts to work with the city to resolve the conflict. Those efforts included an offer to let the city keep more than $20,000 in rent that was already paid in order to back out of the lease.
The city sued the nonprofit in March 2023, seeking legal fees and $105,000 in unpaid rent.
The lawsuit alleges the Boys and Girls Club breached its agreement by not paying rent since October 2022 and for failing to vacate the premises. The nonprofit later filed a counterclaim, saying the city failed to fulfill its lease obligations and made it impossible to use the space.
The need for child care
Jeffries said the dispute is draining the Boys and Girls Club’s resources and has diverted the team’s attention from opening additional facilities in Cache Valley, including two that were supposed to be ready in 2022. Those centers are now expected to be completed this fall.
“At the end of the day, we just want to serve kids,” she said. “We want families to be able to go to work. We want kids to be able to be safe. We want kids ready for kindergarten. We want parents feeling like they can do well at work and at home, and we want to support that working-class family.”
Cache County, meanwhile, is grappling with a shortage of child care options. In October, Voices for Utah Children, a nonprofit that advocates for kids’ well-being, released a report showing the county needed more than 4,000 day care spots.
The county is home to nine center-based child care programs.
According to research published in November by Utah State University’s Utah Women and Leadership Project, 30% of Utah’s population is made up of children — the highest percentage in the nation. An estimated 64% of families have all parents in the workforce.
Camie Hodlmair, a leader of the project’s child care initiative, said the problem requires collaborative solutions.
“Everyone is feeling the pressure,” Hodlmair said. “There is not one solution. But we’ve got to stop fighting each other if we’re going to make a difference in the lives of working families with young children.”
A trial for the city’s lawsuit is scheduled to start Dec. 11.
