Watertown Cable
The Watertown Boys & Girls Club has filed a motion in Federal Court seeking to evict the daycare center that has been located in its building on Whites Avenue for 26 years. Representatives of First Path Day Care Center said this would lead to the business closing and create a a crisis for its families and staff, while Boys & Girls Club representatives said they have plans for the space and have already given an extension after the lease expired.
In a statement, First Path said that it has sought a new home for more than two years, and the eviction notice comes as construction on its new facility is nearly complete, said Max Bolyansyy, General Manager of the First Path Day Care Center.
“The child care crisis being created by the Boys and Girls Club is completely avoidable, if they were truly interested in supporting the families and children we serve,” Bolyansyy said. “For more than a year we have been paying 50 percent more in rent to assure we were being good partners to the Boys & Girls Club. Now, when we just need a couple more months to successfully finish the buildout of our new space, and ensure continuity for our families, they are taking aggressive action to remove us. It just defies common sense and basic humanity.”
The Boys & Girls Club plans to use the space for its own licensed childcare program, and the Board of Directors approved plans to create an after school care program for children in grades K-3 called New Foundations.
“Unfortunately, continued discussions and deliberation with the current occupant of the building’s ground floor, First Path Daycare, for WBGC to reclaim the space for the New Foundations program have proved unsuccessful,” the Watertown Boys & Girls Club said in a statement. “However, our organization has worked to support First Path’s relocation following the expiration of their lease on June 30, 2023, including granting First Path an 11-month extension of occupancy until May 31, 2024.”
In late July, First Path filed for Bankruptcy, the statement said, “to take advantage of the protections afforded under the law, including an automatic stay, to pause the egregious actions being taken by the Boys and Girls Club.” First Path officials said the court motion would remove the protection.
First Path believed they would have more time to move, according to the statement.
“First Path was told in writing that the Club would give First Path at least three years notice if it needed us to vacate the space,” said Bolyansyy. “Instead, they have given us just short of that, and we are just a few months shy of being able to occupy our new permanent home. Now, with the threat of eviction, they are pushing us out, an action that will kill our business, leave families scrambling for child care, and leave 14 people without jobs. The leadership of the Boys and Girls Club should be ashamed of themselves.”
A letter from Alan Medville, Chairperson of the Watertown Boys and Girls Club Board of Directors, said the day care center was first informed that its lease would not be renewed in December 2021, and First Path “legally committed to vacate the space by May 31, 2024, and also agreed not to take any other legal action to delay further.”
A three month extension, through Aug. 31, 2024, was requested by First Path, Medville wrote, but the Boys & Girls Club Board voted to give a one-month extension through June 30, 2024 “due to First Path’s failure to meet any of the other deadlines set for moving out and our lack of confidence in their intention or ability to comply with yet another extension.”
A letter from First Path’s Program Director Aleksandra Pikus and Bolyasnyy said that the day care center requested three years in the current space in 2020, stating in an email: “We need to plan ahead and would like to start discussing lease extension… 3 years might sound as a long time, but in reality it is a short period relative to long term plans.” The letter continues that the Boys & Girls Club’s replied that they were working on a plan to negotiate a lease, and to “hang tight,” because the process was starting.
Officials from the Boys & Girls Club said they have not violated the agreement with First Path.
“WBGC has been fully transparent and upheld all aspects of our agreements with First Path,” the Boys & Girls Club statement said. “Our organization places great value on the services First Path provides to children and families in the area; however, we are not able to comment on any external obstacles First Path has encountered regarding the ongoing delay of their relocation.”
The First Path statement notes that the Boys & Girls Club after school project received ARPA funds from the City of Watertown, but Bolyansyy said he finds it hard to believe the funds will be used for something that will result in the loss of day care for 60 families, and the loss of jobs for 14 staff.
“The Boys and Girls Club understandably is eager to move forward with its plans, but it is doing so in a way that is selfish and disregards the interests of families in our community,” Bolyansyy said. “It is hard to believe those in positions of authority would allow it to happen.”
What a terrible abuse of Goodwill of the Watertown community for the boys and girls club to insensitively force the closure of First Path daycare… The board members should be ashamed of themselves!
Do the right thing board members give them just a couple more months or so… Do the right thing!
They were given 29 months and then a three month extension. In the meantime they have also filed for bankruptcy meaning the Boys and Girls Club may not get paid. It also means that even without another extension the employees may still lose their jobs.