Mayor Matthew Shoemaker shared some exciting — if cryptic — news about the YMCA at Monday night's city council meeting, immediately prior to a presentation by delegation from the "Save our YMCA" Facebook group.
Below is the mayor's statement in full. Coverage of the delegation and council's resolution regarding the YMCA will be included in a follow-up story later tonight.
Statement by Mayor Matthew Shoemaker:
We have a staff report about the YMCA on the agenda tonight and a related delegation making a presentation, but before we get to that, there’s some necessary news to share with the community.
This afternoon the YMCA board met and approved exploring a proposal that could see their operations sustained.
The YMCA announced on April 16 that they were going to cease operations on May 15. This compressed time frame required the Y, the City and the private sector to work tirelessly and often times around the clock to attempt to come up with a solution to their impending closure.
There is a solution that was presented to the Y today that shows promise, but it will take some time to get through the various due diligence hurdles and to determine if it is viable. We do not have firm timelines at this point, but either the Y or the City will provide any information it can as certain milestones are reached over the coming days and weeks.
This due diligence will need the help of the community. I have received an incredible number of emails, phone calls and social media outreach related to the YMCA over the past few weeks. I want to thank people for taking the time to communicate their concerns and share their ideas. It will take the help of every one of those individuals, and more, to make sure that any proposed plan will see membership grow at the Y, leadership renewed, and find a path to sustainable operations.
The City is part of a working group comprised of representation from the YMCA and community partners. It has been working hard on this issue since the Y’s announcement from earlier this month, and there is a report on the agenda for tonight’s meeting that outlines its efforts that Council will get to ask questions about.
Through the working group, the City is committed to continue to facilitate figuring out both short and long-term plans, and I am optimistic we will have more news on the short term plans by next Council Meeting. On that note, I’d like to ask the Save our YMCA group to begin their presentation to Council.