Heights OKs $1.6M Contribution
By Jim Babcock
For the Dayton Daily News
Thursday, January 23, 2003
HUBER HEIGHTS--Only in the wake of a 90-minute question-and-answer session did all but one City Council member agree that the benefits of having a brand-new $7.9-million, 62,000-square-foot YMCA community recreation center in town is worth up to a $1.6 million contribution from the city.
That agreement was demonstrated last week by a 7-1 council vote adopting a resolution that supports a proposed comprehensive partnership with the YMCA of Greater Dayton and agrees "in concept" to investing up to $1.6 million in the construction of a community recreation and wellness center to be built by the YMCA and operated by the Y and Good Samaritan Hospital.
The lone no vote was cast by Third District Councilman Seth Morgan, who said that while he believes that having a YMCA center "would be an excellent addition to our community," he remained uncomfortable with the idea of a $1.6 million city contribution to the construction fund.
His vote put Morgan somewhat on the side of a former city councilman (James Cahill) and three Sulphur Grove area residents (Charles Short, Kenneth Barr and Daniel Slanker), all of whom said they were opposed to the city expending any taxpayers dollars on what they view as a private organization's project, even if it meant that the project can't otherwise happen.
But even while voting no, Morgan indicated he at least partially supports the project by announcing that he had agreed to serve with at-large Councilman Mark Campbell as co-chairman of the business division portion of a capital campaign to raise at least $2.4 million from community philanthropic and private sector sources.
Greater Dayton YMCA President and CEO Tim Helm had earlier announced that Huber Heights School Board members Doris Studebaker and Edward Hart have agreed to be the overall campaign co-chairmen.
Other City Council members had indicated that they also have some reservations about the extent to which the city should financially support the project.
But Helm, two other YMCA officials and City Manager James Pierce were successful in satisfying their concerns during an hour-and-a-half-long council Administration Committee meeting that immediately preceded the council business meeting.
"In the Administration Committee meeting, a lot of questions were addressed, and I think what we came away with is that this is really our first step in the process," First District Councilman James Ellis said after the committee meeting.
"What we did today was primarily for the purpose of getting the ball rolling, and I think the (remaining) details are going to come forth in the next several weeks."
The questions, posed not only by the four committee members but also by council members attending as well, mainly concerned the method by which the council will make a financial contribution, whether the city can be assured that it will be asked for no more than $1.6 million, and how the city can benefit from a proposal to put the YMCA in charge of managing the city's parks and recreation division and municipal swimming pool.
In their responses, Helm, Pierce and Administration Committee chairman Campbell said the city's financial contribution could very well be significantly less than $1.6 million if the capital campaign raises more private funding than expected or alternative methods of financing can be arranged.
They also said they believed that YMCA management of all city parks and recreation programs can result in far greater program improvement than the city can presently afford to achieve on its own.
"This is our opportunity if the agreements are worked out that we're talking about tonight," Campbell said.
The proposed YMCA partnership agreement, which the council approval vote authorized Pierce to negotiate into satisfactory form before presenting it for council approval, calls for the city to make its financial contribution through providing an annual cash flow that would retire an up to $1.6 million portion of the YMCA's bond financing debt during a 20-year period.
It also proposes that:
The city grant the YMCA a long-term lease agreement.
Waive all sewer and water tap-in fees associated with the community center construction.
Eliminate a currently vacant parks and recreation manager post in favor of essentially making the YMCA the parks and recreation manager.
And contract with the YMCA to manage the city's Fishburg Road municipal swimming pool complex.
Helm and Pierce said the latter two steps would save the city an estimated $2 million during a 20-year period, thus reducing the city's bond retirement costs to less than $50,000 a year.
YMCA construction plans, developed during the past two years in collaboration with Huber Heights city officials, call for erecting the community recreation center on 16.5 acres of city-owned land at the northwest corner of Brandt Pike and Shull Road in northern Huber Heights.
The city has acquired the land via a donation from Paula E. and James Grusenmeyer, past owners of a 70.7-acre farm now destined to become the site of not only of the YMCA center but also a 41.3-acre upscale apartment complex that will be bordered and divided by nearly 10 acres of city-owned public grounds and wetland areas.
The community center will include a 42,000-square-foot YMCA recreation center wing, a 20,000-square-foot medical/wellness center wing operated by Good Samaritan Hospital and associated outdoor recreational facilities that include a walking trail and soccer and basketball playing fields.
In addition, private funding raised in the capital campaign, the YMCA will finance its construction bond debt through membership fees and lease payments from Good Samaritan Hospital and the Sulphur Grove United Methodist Church, which will use the community center for Sunday church services.