Plot thickens in YMCA debate
Ketchum Council wrestles with
financing options
By GREGORY FOLEY
Express Staff Writer
An evolving debate over how the
city of Ketchum should help finance the proposed Wood River Community
YMCA came to a head this week, as City Council members found themselves
divided over a variety of funding options.
In a special meeting Tuesday, May
11, council members engaged in a lively two-hour discussion about a
proposal by the Ketchum-based YMCA group to absorb the city’s entire
$450,000 parks and recreation budget. However, in the end, consensus
seemed quite distant.
Council members ultimately
scheduled a follow-up meeting on the subject for Monday, May 17, at 4:30
p.m. in Ketchum City Hall.
The meeting Tuesday was
highlighted by a set of poignant remarks from Councilman Baird Gourlay,
who said he believes it is time for the city to determine what level of
support it should lend to the YMCA’s planned $16 million recreation
complex and community center.
Gourlay argued that he believes
Ketchum should establish some form of alliance with the YMCA, largely
because the city cannot afford to build its own municipal recreation
facility with a swimming pool and ice rink.
"We’re never going to build a pool
and we’re never going to build a rink if we don’t go to the outside,"
Gourlay said. "We need to make it work."
At issue Tuesday was an April 21
proposal by the YMCA to take over operation of the city’s recreation
programs and collect for 10 years the Parks and Recreation Department’s
entire $450,000 annual budget.
The YMCA plans to leverage the
money to help finance a state-of-the-art, 85,000-square-foot community
complex with a swimming pool and ice rink. The facility is planned for
the city’s Park and Ride Lot, at the corner of Warm Springs and Saddle
roads.
The city has already agreed to
lease a portion of the 5.8-acre Park and Ride Lot to the YMCA for $1 per
year.
The YMCA financing proposal was
put forth as an alternative to a 2003 city resolution to support the
YMCA with funds from a $3 million revenue bond, which would be subject
to approval by city voters.
As a part of the new financing
plan, the YMCA proposed to maintain all of the city’s recreation
programs but not the city’s parks.
Tom Praggastis, a leading member
of the YMCA board of directors, argued that the proposal was issued
under the assumption that the city has a made a commitment to fund the
YMCA project but does not have any money in its budget to do so.
"The city should honor its
commitments and work in good faith … to fulfill them," he noted in a May
11 letter to the council. "Prior City Councils already made the decision
to support this project."
Councilwoman Terry Tracy, the
former parks and recreation director, has stated repeatedly that she
believes the city should abide by the terms of its 2003 resolution to
seek voter approval for a revenue bond.
On Tuesday, Tracy reiterated
concerns that the city would be spending unnecessarily if it gave up the
entire $450,000 parks and recreation budget and still had to pay to
maintain the city’s parks. City officials have estimated the cost of
maintaining a scaled-down parks department at approximately $250,000.
"We have to decide whether parks
and recreation are a normal function of a municipality," Tracy said.
Councilwoman Christina Potters
said she wants to get public opinion at a "town hall meeting" before she
makes a decision on whether to fund the YMCA.
Gourlay stressed that he wants to
see the city act decisively to build on the momentum the YMCA has gained
in recent months while bringing its fund-raising total to $4 million.
"Every single person I’ve talked
to says they want a pool and they want a rink," he said.
Gourlay said he believes voters
would likely support a city funding plan for the YMCA if it called for
the city to own a portion of the project, such as the swimming pool.
City Council President Randy Hall
said he might be willing to subscribe to the YMCA takeover of the
recreation sector of the Parks and Recreation Department.
"It sounds to me like we’ve found
the partner that we’re looking for and it just happens to be the best
recreation organization in the world," Hall said.
Hall said he believes the city
might be able to contract for services to maintain the city’s parks for
as little as $64,000.
However, a memo issued Wednesday
by Jennifer Smith, city parks superintendent, estimates that the city
would spend three to five times that amount—up to $322,000 annually—to
contract for the majority of the maintenance services the parks
department conducts.
Mayor Ed Simon has indicated that
he will schedule a public town meeting on the YMCA financing options
before asking the City Council to vote on the matter.