The Granite Falls Boys &Girls Club needs help.
For more than a year, controversy has swirled around the club’s lease at the city-owned community center. Mayor Lyle Romack and the Granite Falls City Council believe it’s time for the club to find a new facility. Club administrators and patrons would have liked to stay where they were.
On June 20, the whole debate went up in a cloud of smoke, when the 86-year-old community center caught fire.
“It’s a real shame,” Romack said.
The fire has displaced a number of groups, including the Boys &Girls Club. For many kids the club was a sanctuary – a safe, friendly place they could count on.
Now city officials and club supporters should bury their differences and cooperate. The children of growing Granite Falls need a Boys &Girls Club and the club urgently needs a new home.
A year ago, Romack asked the club to vacate its community center space. The Boys &Girls Club had been leasing the building on a month-by-month basis after its two-year lease expired in March 2004.
Club administrators asked Romack to grant a new, long-term $1 per year lease and offered to put up nearly $400,000 for renovations. The mayor and City Council turned them down, citing budget concerns, poor supervision and a desire to maintain city control of the building – explanations that failed to satisfy many in Granite Falls.
Romack’s reluctance to discuss the community center’s future has puzzled some and encouraged negative speculation.
When community members protested a year ago, Romack granted the club a one-year extension. He suggested the club lease a new building rather than renovate the city’s – a less affordable plan, according to club administrators.
The club is using the Lake Stevens Boys &Girls Club on an interim basis. They’ll continue to look for a home in Granite Falls.
“We’re lucky to have a nice adjacent facility,” said Paul Seely, community development director for Boys &Girls Clubs of Snohomish County. “But the fire does put an exclamation point behind our search. It adds urgency.”
It’s unclear how involved the city will be. Certainly, Romack and the City Council aren’t responsible for the Boys &Girls Club. On the other hand, it’s in the city’s best interest to help out – especially after the fire.
“It’s always been perplexing to me,” Seely said. “The city has said it’s not their place to find space for non-profits. But there would have been so much less angst if people had sat down long ago and said ‘Let’s find a safe place for kids.’”
It’s not too late for that to happen.
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