The YMCA held its Annual General Meeting Thursday night at the Sportsman Centre.

The meeting's main focus was the closure of the Y's Fairford Street location - which had been previously decided by board members via three different motions - along with the election of eight new board members.

With the closure of the Fairford location, YMCA CEO Jeff Fox said they plan to do an expansion of the Y's Co-op location.

"We don't have a new lease with the Co-op, so we still have to go through that process, but that is our plan as of today."

Fox said they plan to invest $250,000 in 1,600 square feet at the Co-op location.

Fox also said, "We're losing money. Members are losing money. [The Fairford building] is not our building. It's the City's building. It's expensive. We've been talking about this [closure] for five years." The replacement value of the Fairford facility is $7 million.

YMCA members in attendance were vocal in their concerns about what was included in the Board's financial statements with regard to the Fairford facility.

Comments included, "The decision [to close Fairford] was made using erroneous data" and that information on the Fairford location was based on a "faulty premise. It's a lie." One person said, "The numbers are based off garbage."

Board member Christine Turcotte responded. "Right now our daycares are making money and the gym is not. It's balanced out from the money from the daycares, which for me is a real issue. I truly believe that it would be lovely if we could make our daycares better, if we could pay our workers better. But right now, instead of doing that, we are subsidizing the gyms." 

Members inquired about the possibility of fundraising to save the Fairford facility. Fox said that only "2 percent of our revenue comes from fundraising," and that poor ticket sales in the past have prevented them from following that same (fundraising) path in the future.

According to Fox, there are 2,480 total memberships at the YMCA in Moose Jaw. He said they may lose as many as 800 members when the Fairford facility shuts down. "We're not happy to lose anyone," explained Fox.

YMCA member Cathy Knittel had concerns regarding the Y's proposed plan to move to, and expand, the Co-op location. "I don't like the air there. There are no windows. There's not enough room for all the machines that are at the [Fairford] Y."

New board members elected to a two-year term were Jeremy Brehm, Taylor Carlson, Errol Fonger, Dr. Jeffrey Reihl, and Kristin Walbaum. Those elected to a one-year term were Greg Burton, Perry Koot, and Cheryl Whitehead.

Fox said the Fairford Street facility will be open for at least another 12 to 18 months.

Approximately 200 people showed up for last night's AGM.

 

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