Standing-room only crowd supports YMCA donation

RED OAK — Following comments from 19 local residents, Red Oak’s City Council unanimously approved at last week’s meeting an unbalanced budget that includes a controversial $56,000 donation to the YMCA.

Three weeks after the Council approved increasing a line item donation to the Y by $50,000, while declining funding requests from the police and library departments, residents packed the fire station to offer their opinions.

Thirteen residents spoke in favor of the Council’s decision, with support coming from business owners, doctors, a County Supervisor, and an attorney who attended the first meeting that led to the Montgomery County Family YMCA.

Dennis Bloom said that first meeting took place in 1974 at the Chamber of Commerce with the goal of providing some form of indoor recreation in Red Oak.

“Countless industrial prospects that we brought to this town … they loved the town, but they all said ‘Denny, I recognize the outdoor stuff to do, but what is it when you aren’t watching the corn grow? What are you doing in the wintertime for recreation?”’ Bloom said. “It was a sorry need we had in the community and one we worked on literally since 1974.”

He said the biggest mistake they made 30 years ago was not placing a funding levy on the ballot for approval. However, after YMCA supporters raised $8 million privately, he said the public is obligated to support the facility now.

“It just appears to me the public ought to support what was privately built,” he said. “I think we are asking the wrong question. It is not should we support the YMCA, it is what can we do for the YMCA publicly.”

Clint Rubey, co-owner of Rubey Realty and Auction, discussed the positive impact the Y has on the local economy, and the importance of supporting it.

“In my belief, it benefits every citizen in this town, and probably in this county,” Rubey said. “If you don’t have a progressive community, if you aren’t moving forward, if you don’t have a view to the future, your town is going to die.”

Dr. Bill Artherholt discussed the positive impact the YMCA has on the medical community, including patients from his own practice.

He said he writes a lot of “exercise prescriptions,” and that in Southwest Iowa, especially in the winter, the YMCA is essential.

“What I have found is when I prescribe the Y and they do it, people change their lives,” Dr. Artherholt said. “Lives are touched and it becomes a lifeline for them.

Dr. Artherholt also called the YMCA a lifeline to the community, even beyond it’s medical impact.

“The downturn in our economy is important, and I think the last thing we should do is shoot ourselves in the foot and impair the function of the Y,” he said. “People more [knowledgeable] than I know the importance of the Y, and other things in our community, are to industrial recruitment and job replacement.”

However, John Haidsiak said as important as the YMCA may be, they are a private not-for-profit organization, of which Red Oak has several. And while they don’t receive funding from the Council, he believes the money given to the YMCA should have gone elsewhere.

“Our first line of defense in this community is not the YMCA, it is the law and fire departments,” he said. “We need to support our first line of defense before we support anything else.”

Jody Rolenc said the economy has affected everyone, not just not-for-profits, and it may not improve soon.

“With the economy we have right now, there is no guarantee tomorrow will be better, it may be two years down the road,” she said. “If people can’t pay their taxes, where does the city’s money come from? I’d like to see some other alternatives before the City gives that kind of money out.”

She also criticized dipping into reserves.

“When you have to dip into reserve funds, to help someone else out, those reserve funds are for rainy days, and we could see a lot more rainy days before we get out of this,” Rolenc said. “I really think at this time your $56,000 is way out of line.”

Marilyn Culver said she doesn’t believe in bailouts.

“The Y is good for our town, I do grant that. But somehow financial responsibilities have to fall more on the Y,” she said. “They have to be able to cover their expenses.”

Jeanice Lester took exception to the use of the word bailout.

“The thing I have heard the most that this is a bailout. It is not a bailout.  It is simply asking for payment for services rendered,” Lester said. “The City has not been responsible to any substantial degree for recreation since I lived in Red Oak, and that has been 32 years.”

Rev. Elizabeth Dilley echoed Lester’s sentiments that the City has an obligation to meet.

“When I first heard the City Council was budgeting $50,000 additional for the YMCA, my first thought was, it’s about time,” Dilley said. “This organization has provided a great deal of support to this community with very, very little financial support from the City. When I heard you stepped up and realized not perhaps an obligation, but certainly a duty to support the work of the YMCA, I was thrilled, and I’d encourage you to remain steadfast in that.”

Kathy Walker discussed the YMCA’s impact on the youth, which comprises a different demographic than when the Y was first built in 1997.

“We have a lot more needy children at every level and it’s important they be given the opportunity to participate in recreation, be a part of a team or learn to swim, or just to have some place safe and positive to hang out,” Walker said. “Schools can only do so much, and the YMCA is the logical place to help facilitate the social change in our youth.”

She added the City is obligated to offset the financial burden.

“Right now, the YMCA members and donors are shouldering the full cost of providing I think a much needed social service to the youth of our community and I just feel it is the responsibility of the city to share that cost of providing that service to our youth,” she said.

Former Mayor and current County Supervisor Karen Blue spoke last, and first attested to the impact the Y had on Johnson Controls and Fresco locating in Red Oak.

“They did not come to see our smooth streets, to view the water department or the sewer department. The assumption is those things will be satisfactory,” Blue said. “They come looking for things for their employees to do. That’s always the number one question.”

She also said the City can afford to make this donation.

“It would be harder to make this case if the City did not have some money. I have studied your audits, and the $1.2 million reserve was in one fund, the general basic fund,” she said. “However, you are not poor by any means.”