As requested by Cambridge City Council Member Howard Lewis, the council revisited a discussion on the possibility of bringing a YMCA to the city during its June 6 City Council meeting.
In a memo written by Lewis, he explained a community center task force was created by the city in 2007 and concluded a YMCA would be a good fit for Cambridge. He said the values of the YMCA of “strong communities, strong families and strong kids” is appealing. In addition, he noted there would be a positive economic impact with the addition of approximately 30 full-time and many part-time employees. Lewis also noted that two businesses have recently received $227,000 in tax abatements.
“An investment in a YMCA would be the same objective to create jobs with the added benefit of providing healthy living alternatives,” Lewis wrote in his memo.
Lewis referred to a city survey in July 2014 that asked residents, “Should the city consider building an aquatics facility?” Seventy-four percent of respondents said “yes,” while 25 percent responded “no.”
Lewis mentioned a recent petition presented to the council had 656 signatures asking for a referendum vote on a YMCA. He noted over 300 signatures had Cambridge addresses, although he did not know if they were city addresses or Cambridge Township addresses.
He also explained, in addition to all the surveys and petitions, the conclusions arrived from a vote of residents at the Minnesota Design Team community meal indicated a YMCA was their third goal for the community.
“Clearly, the citizens of Cambridge want some sort of an aquatics facility,” Lewis said. “The question is, is will we trust our citizens with a referendum (vote) so they can vote for what they want? The vote only gives the citizens an opportunity to vote on the issue.”
Following a discussion, Lewis made a motion to establish a YMCA task force and put a referendum item on the November ballot to fund a recreational facility, including a pool, gym and community rooms. The motion failed due to a lack of second.
Council Member Lisa Iverson then made a motion for the city to establish a line item account to accept restricted donations for a YMCA, and when the account reaches $15,000, the city can contact the YMCA and tell them to move forward with the YMCA marketing and research study to bring a YMCA to Cambridge. The total cost of the YMCA study would be $30,000, with the city paying half, and the YMCA paying half. The motion failed due to a lack of a second.
Iverson said she hasn’t heard from anyone telling her they want a YMCA in Cambridge.
“I’ve heard from people who say they can’t afford it, and I’ve heard from no one saying they want it,” Iverson said.
Iverson voiced concerns that if the YMCA doesn’t succeed, the taxpayers will end up paying for it.
“I don’t want to wrap the citizens of Cambridge into putting a debt on them they can’t afford,” Iverson said. “If there’s a shortfall, it’s coming out of their pockets.”
Council Member Joe Morin said he contacted the city of Andover regarding their YMCA and was told the city put $150,000 into the YMCA there this past year.
“It’s always a risk whenever you do anything,” Lewis said. “The question is, is do we believe our citizens ought to have a right to vote on this?”
Lewis cited a study from the ORB Management Corporation from November 2015 that showed the feasibility analysis for five years of a YMCA. The study showed in year 1, a YMCA would range a profit of $2,450 to a loss of $2,396. Year 2 showed a range of profit from $45,500 to $34,100. Year 3 showed a range of profit from $83,700 to $63,400, and years 4 and 5 would continue to show profits.
Woulfe noted the ORB study showed the figures for a zero-depth entry pool, indoor playground, small room for birthday parties and a fitness component.
“The facts from ORB Management says we can do this,” Lewis said. “Let’s move forward with this so we can find out more information.”
Cambridge Mayor Marlys Palmer noted no one has spoken to her to say they really want a YMCA.
“Yes, it would be wonderful to have this, but I’ve not had one person that’s come to me and said, ‘I really want this, and we can do this,’” Palmer said. “If we can’t do this, it will raise our taxes. It could cost the city up to $15,000 for us to do a study with the Y. We haven’t talked about this in our long-range plan, and that’s where we need to go first with these studies.”
During discussions, it was noted the citizens can present a petition to the city to put an aquatics center facility on the November ballot. City Administrator Lynda Woulfe said the petition would need to be received 74 days before the Nov. 8 general election and would need to be signed by 20 percent of city of Cambridge voters, according to the total vote from the last election. Woulfe said according to the numbers from the last election, the petition would need 569 signatures.