5.3. SR 01-22-2002Item 5.3.
MEMORANDUM
TO:
Mayor and City Council
FROM:
DATE:
Pat Klaers, City Admin;~tr~ator
January 22, 2002
SUBJECT: YMCA Update
The YMCA project continues to slowly move forward. Mayor IClinzing and I will be at the
January 22, 2002, City Council meeting to provide an update on the YMCA project.
On March 29, 2001, the YMCA feasibility report was presented to the public. Overall the
results in the report were positive for support of a YMCA being established in Elk River.
During the summer, discussions took place regarding the best ways to proceed in building
community support and in creating awareness for the YMCA coming to Elk River. In
August a group of citizens met with the Mayor and YMCA representative Chad Lanners to
further pursue the YMCA becoming a reality in Elk River. Citizen committee meetings were
held monthly and a total of four meetings were held in 2001. Finance Director Lori Johnson
and I attended these meetings as staff representatives. Membership on the cidzen committee
needs to expand as there are three main responsibilities that need to be fulfilled. This will
likely necessitate three subcommittees. One is fundraising, a second is identifying
appropriate YMCA programs, and the third task is to evaluate facility components (i.e. gym,
swim, meeting rooms, etc.). Help from Councilmembers in recruiting committee members
would be appreciated. Ultimately a Founder's Board will be established once a YMCA
building begins to move forward. This board will be the managing organization of a YMCA
facility in Elk River.
Clearly the process for establishing a YMCA in Elk River takes a long time. At this time no
formal commitment to build a facility has taken place although everyone continues to be
very optimistic that this will happen. Additionally, no formal decision has been made
regarding preferred YMCA sites. Furthermore, city financial participation and funding
options for an Elk River YMCA building have yet to be decided. However, in order to
develop awareness and participation in the YMCA programs, the YMCA will have an office
in the Lions Park Center. This will help create public awareness of the YMCA in the
community and they (plus the City Recreation Department) will be running programs out of
this office. The YMCA will also list available programs in our City Recreation brochure.
The next monthly meeting (fourth Thursday of each month) of the YMCA committee is
January 24, 2002. At that meeting a tour of the Northwest YMCA, Minneapolis YMCA, and
Coon Rapids YMCA is scheduled. These tours will allow the committee to get a first-hand
look at what a YMCA facility is and the programs that they run.