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Item 5.3. <br /> <br />MEMORANDUM <br /> <br />TO: <br /> <br />Mayor and City Council <br /> <br />FROM: <br />DATE: <br /> <br />Pat Klaers, City Admin;~tr~ator <br />January 22, 2002 <br /> <br />SUBJECT: YMCA Update <br /> <br />The YMCA project continues to slowly move forward. Mayor IClinzing and I will be at the <br />January 22, 2002, City Council meeting to provide an update on the YMCA project. <br /> <br />On March 29, 2001, the YMCA feasibility report was presented to the public. Overall the <br />results in the report were positive for support of a YMCA being established in Elk River. <br />During the summer, discussions took place regarding the best ways to proceed in building <br />community support and in creating awareness for the YMCA coming to Elk River. In <br />August a group of citizens met with the Mayor and YMCA representative Chad Lanners to <br />further pursue the YMCA becoming a reality in Elk River. Citizen committee meetings were <br />held monthly and a total of four meetings were held in 2001. Finance Director Lori Johnson <br />and I attended these meetings as staff representatives. Membership on the cidzen committee <br />needs to expand as there are three main responsibilities that need to be fulfilled. This will <br />likely necessitate three subcommittees. One is fundraising, a second is identifying <br />appropriate YMCA programs, and the third task is to evaluate facility components (i.e. gym, <br />swim, meeting rooms, etc.). Help from Councilmembers in recruiting committee members <br />would be appreciated. Ultimately a Founder's Board will be established once a YMCA <br />building begins to move forward. This board will be the managing organization of a YMCA <br />facility in Elk River. <br /> <br />Clearly the process for establishing a YMCA in Elk River takes a long time. At this time no <br />formal commitment to build a facility has taken place although everyone continues to be <br />very optimistic that this will happen. Additionally, no formal decision has been made <br />regarding preferred YMCA sites. Furthermore, city financial participation and funding <br />options for an Elk River YMCA building have yet to be decided. However, in order to <br />develop awareness and participation in the YMCA programs, the YMCA will have an office <br />in the Lions Park Center. This will help create public awareness of the YMCA in the <br />community and they (plus the City Recreation Department) will be running programs out of <br />this office. The YMCA will also list available programs in our City Recreation brochure. <br /> <br /> <br />