MONROE – City residents have secured their slots to swim, hang out and exercise at a new YMCA a few years prior to its opening.
The City Council unanimously approved a $1.98 million deal with the organization on Wednesday. The agreement will buy people who live in the city some free services for 15 years at the new center, expected to open in early 2008.
“It’s going to be great for the community,” said Patsy Cudaback, executive director of the Monroe-Sky Valley Family YMCA.
The $9 million center on Fryelands Boulevard in the city’s west end will have community meeting rooms, a gymnasium and a swimming pool with lockers and showers. The Monroe YMCA now runs programs out of local schools.
The city has no pool and discussed building one for decades.
The proposed service for city residents includes swimming hours, senior citizen health and fitness programs, water aerobics and family and teen nights.
“It’s flexible based on what the community needs,” Cudaback said.
The agreement was controversial.
Supporters said that the city should pitch in the money to support the facility, which would create jobs and provide a safe place where anyone, from children to seniors, could get together.
Opponents balked at the amount of the money and expressed concerns about how the deal would affect local fitness centers and the city’s finances in the long run.
Councilman Ken Berger said he would work to make sure that the new agreement wouldn’t chip away money from existing services.
“I think we’re making a correct decision to move forward,” Berger said.
Meanwhile, Mayor Donnetta Walser said in an interview that she supports the new YMCA but has concerns about the agreement.
She’s not sure the council’s decision fully took into account the agreement’s effects on local businesses and fairness to other nonprofit groups such as the Boys &Girls Club, Walser said.
“I have some mixed feelings about whether the city should be putting in (the money) for this,” she said.
Reporter Yoshiaki Nohara: 425-339-3029 or ynohara@heraldnet.com.
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