For the week of December 18 - 23, 2002

Janss Activity Center and YMCA discussing partnership

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By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer

The Bill Janss Activity Center Board is hosting an open house meeting Thursday night to present a proposed partnership with the YMCA, a national organization boasting 151 years of experience and 973 facilities nationwide.

The meeting will include presentations and question-and-answer forums, and will begin at 7:30 p.m. at the nexStage Theater in Ketchum.

"It’s one of those things where it seems like it was just meant to be," said Janss Center Board Chair Cynthia Murphy.

Janss Center Campaign Coordinator Mike Wolter said the two groups began talking several months ago. He pointed out that the relationship started as a curiosity about one another.

"The bottom line is, the Y doesn’t want their name on something that will fail," Wolter said. "The Y’s involvement should help the public’s confidence in the project."

Jim Everett, who runs the Boise Y, is serving as a liaison between the YMCA and the Wood River Valley. He said he was impressed with the Janss Center’s financial and facilities plans so far.

"All the basic ingredients are there," he said. "They’ve done very good work."

Everett said, however, that forecasting operational expenses and potential deficits are always the most difficult part of putting a proposal together.

"We don’t subscribe to the philosophy of, ‘If you build it, they will come,’" he said. But on the Janss Center’s numbers, he added, "We’re quite confident with what we’ve looked at, that that’s doable."

The proposed merging isn’t without its problems.

The Janss Center is a relative late-comer to the YMCA discussion. A Hailey-based group has been courting the YMCA for almost three years.

Mike Hess, who has been working on the Hailey project with Hailey resident Reamy Goodwin, said his group has completed feasibility and demographics studies and is now attempting to get a land commitment from the city of Hailey and the Blaine County School District.

Everett said, however, that the Wood River Valley looks like it is only big enough for one facility.

"The north-south thing. That’s a tough one," he said. "There’s always some disagreement about location. The Wood River Valley needs a Y or a facility like a Y, but the likelihood of having one in the south and one in the north is not likely.

"The goal is to get both groups to work together."

 

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