YMCA project: City on verge of site but may lose partner

Monday, March 18, 2019

There’s both good news and bad news on the Greencastle community center/YMCA front.

First, of course, the good news (it’s always better to lead with that) ...

City Attorney Laurie Hardwick said site acquisition appears to be on the horizon.

“We hope land acquisition will move forward next month,” Hardwick told the Greencastle City Council at its March meeting during the midst of a conversation on the community center’s status.

And the bad news?

If you read between the lines or listen to Council concerns, it does not appear that a partnership between the city and the Wabash Valley YMCA group is anywhere as close as that.

In fact, some city officials are downright pessimistic on that partnership ever reaching fruition.

During his monthly report, Mayor Bill Dory said work continues with the YMCA group.

“They have engaged a consultant to continue to work with us on finalizing some things,” the mayor said, indicating a meeting on that is coming up in April as the YMCA group tries to finalize its business plan and other aspects of what is viewed as a 20-year partnership with Greencastle providing the facility and the YMCA the means of operating the community center and its programs.

“Is there a date they’re thinking that they’ll be ready?” Council President Adam Cohen asked.

Mayor Dory responded that he hopes that date will be next month.

“You said that in January,” Councilman Dave Murray interjected.

Nodding as if to say that was true, the mayor added that he has “emphasized to them (Wabash Valley YMCA Board members) that if something doesn’t happen fairly quickly, the Council will be pulling the plug on the project.”

“That’s for darn sure,” Murray responded, frustrated at lack of movement on the community center project the last several months. “Yesterday somebody said the same thing to me,” he said, ‘‘‘You’re not really going to have a ‘Y’, are you?’ And I had no ammunition to come back at them with.”

Council President Cohen cautioned against using the words “pulling the plug.”

“It’s not pulling the plug on the community center,” he said. “It’s saying there are other ‘Ys’ allowed to come in with a 50-mile radius ... We’re not saying ‘we’re pulling the plug.’”

“Exactly,” Mayor Dory agreed.

“I have emphasized to them and I’ve emphasized to other people,” Dory continued, “that because we’ll likely be doing a bond issue for the project, this is a 20-year marriage, and whatever group we partner with, there’s not an opportunity to pull out after two or three years, because we don’t have the wherewithal to operate it if we have to cancel the agreement.”

Councilman Murray senses a reluctance on the part of the Wabash Valley YMCA.

“I think they have cold feet,” he said. “I don’t think it’s going to happen with Terre Haute.

“There’s tremendous disappointment out there,” Murray continued. “I can’t tell you how many people a week talk to me about the fact we aren’t going to have a ‘Y’ here. It’s been going on for years. It’s really a shame.”

Mayor Dory said he came to Greencastle in 1983, and a local YMCA “was a topic of conversation back then.”

“It’s always been easy for us to build the facility,” he said, “but it’s the operating side we don’t have the wherewithal to do.”

Cohen noted that serious investigation into a local community center/YMCA has extended through “at least three administrations” (Mayors Nancy Michael, Sue Murray and now Dory).

“The fact that they are getting a little bit of cold feet on examining it carefully, they’re not sure it’s viable for them,” Cohen added.

“I don’t know I’d necessarily say that,” Mayor Dory countered. “That may be making a big assumption. I think they’re being cautious because they understand the gravity of what they’re entering into.”

Cohen asked if the sense of the Council would be “to put a hard deadline” on the Wabash Valley YMCA “to move it along a little.”

“Absolutely,” Murray reacted.

However, no vote was ever taken to urge the mayor or anyone else to make that formal request.

In fact, no action was taken relative to the community center project at all Thursday. However, Councilman Murray ended the discussion by noting other avenues exist that could yet advance the project forward.

“There are some other new financial opportunities on the horizon out here that would help with this project,” Murray said, “but they’ve got to have some kind of agreement in place.”

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  • That's one of the biggest problems, no action is ever taken for the community center project!!

    -- Posted by Falcon9 on Tue, Mar 19, 2019, at 1:04 PM
  • I for one could not care less about a “Y”. If the city wants to issue a bond (tax increase), it should be to provide curbs, sidewalks and storm water drainage on heavily walked streets that do not have them now. South Arlington from Washington to Anderson as well as Hammond Drive come to mind.

    -- Posted by Vernie1 on Tue, Mar 19, 2019, at 2:28 PM
  • Sorry! Can GC/Put Co really support a Y?

    -- Posted by letspulltogether on Wed, Mar 20, 2019, at 11:03 PM
  • No.

    -- Posted by beg on Thu, Mar 21, 2019, at 7:22 PM
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