YMCA too good to be true?

A possible partnership with the YMCA to run Lifeplex may signal the beginning of the end, according to the chair of the board that now runs it.

Brian McConnell, chair of the Basin Wellness Society, said he is disappointed and dismayed by the county's recent move to consider partnering with the YMCA, a move that has left the volunteer board in turmoil. "We didn't see it coming," he said. "There was no consultation. We are very disappointed in the process, it's been flawed, unprofessional and unethical."

Volunteers are feeling betrayed and left out of the process, after all the hard work they put into the centre, according to McConnell. Council was hasty to accept this option, and he questions whether the process was unbiased. "From the beginning I think this has been an exit strategy," he said. "I think they have done the public a disservice in the way this has proceeded."

He added that while the County has emphasized it wants to include the public in the process of deciding the next step for Lifeplex, this has not been the case. No presentations were permitted during the financial information-only session held last fall in Annapolis Royal, yet Councilor Tom Vitiello was allowed to make a one-sided argument against the centre.

The county also failed to credit the management with its recent successes in introducing cost-saving measures, or make public the latest budget and business plan that was submitted by the society in November, McConnell added. "The four options the CAO presented didn't include the option we presented to them," he said. "And the society wasn't given an opportunity to participate in consideration of the options presented."

Despite an obvious show of public support for Lifeplex at the four public meetings, he said council didn't hesitate to consider replacing the current board with another that would not be directly responsible to the members. "Nobody was suggesting the status quo was an acceptable option," he said. "We weren't advocating that, we had submitted a new budget with more realistic projections that the public didn't see."

He questions whether the county is truly in a position to independently evaluate the situation, given its role; and whether it should have hired an independent consultant to look into the situation more fully.

Further, McConnell said that he's not confident that the YMCA is the cure-all being presented. "YMCAs go bankrupt, it's not some magic panacea," he said. "There's a reason there's not many in rural areas, they're usually found in larger centers."

McConnell said people should do their own research to decide if a YMCA is an appropriate substitute for the wellness centre. YMCAs operate their programs based on enrollment rather than community service, only offering classes with cost-recovery through minimal enrollments.

Further McConnell says he's concerned that a number of jobs at Lifeplex will be lost, as YMCAs tend to utilize volunteers to run facilities. Overall, he says he’s concerned that if the YMCA fails to make the facility viable, the municipality will simply close it. "It sounds like they’re saying if the YMCA can't do it, it's not viable," he said. "It looks like what they are proposing is Y, or nothing."

Basin Wellness Society has a five-year lease with the Municipality, with about two years remaining, he said. The original business plan forecast three to five years to show any success in order to develop its market and make the facility efficient.

McConnell said he's asking the county to consider allowing the society to finish this lease, with the capped subsidy it's now offering the YMCA. 
"I'm confident that if we have the same capped subsidy for the next two years, we could remain open and viable many years into the future," he said. "From the beginning it was a special facility, founded on a dream. "It's a very rare and unique facility in the area, in the country. I think council was too quick to make this decision, not properly reflecting on what the community deserves."