Shelter terms to be offered today

Thursday, May 10, 2001 | 11:16 a.m.

Terms of a new agreement that will be offered to save the MASH Village homeless shelter from closure will be released today, city officials said.

The terms will be defined in background materials that are provided to the public, news media and City Council in preparation for next Wednesday's City Council meeting.

As of the Sun's deadline today those documents had not been delivered to City Hall from the printer.

Terms that are expected to be offered in the contract include the selling of the MASH property for $1 to its current operators in exchange for several considerations, including a financial investment and efforts to make homelessness a regional issue and not just a city problem.

The shelter, which faced closure after a vote at the most recent City Council meeting, has remained open under the direction of longtime operator the Rev. Joe Carroll while new terms could be worked out.

If an agreement is not approved at the upcoming meeting, MASH Village will close its crisis intervention center and health clinic May 18.

Carroll had demanded the city give the shelter ownership of the parcel in which it is located to aid with the group's fund-raising efforts.

The city, however, maintained that the group was to make $5 million in capital improvements to the land before it was given ownership.