Newly elected Queen Anne’s county commissioners quashed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the county and YMCA of the Chesapeake during their first meeting as a new commission. The meeting was held Monday, December 9.
A relationship between YMCA and Queen Anne’s County has been sought for years, the MOU being the last version of an ongoing attempt to have a Y in Queen Anne’s County.
The commissioners stated that they were not against the YMCA per se, and that nullifying the MOU was “not an attack on the YMCA,” but that underwriting the enterprise did not best serve their tax-paying constituents. Instead, they proposed a sub-committee to approach the YMCA of the Chesapeake to seek a new arrangement.
The county has an eight million dollar surplus after several years of deficit. As late as May, 2014, the county had restored $4M in funding for the project in fiscal year 2015. A month earlier, in April, 2015, the funding had been removed from the budget by the commission.
Several residents stated the commonly held position that a YMCA is a crucial component to community health and offered positive impacts for economic development for the region.
A December 6, 2013 QA County website description of the MOU included this agreement description:
“According to the MOU, the county commits to expend up to $8 million for design and construction of the facility and the YMCA agrees to reimburse the county $4 million within seven years. The county, with input from the YMCA, will oversee design and construction of the facility, but once completed the YMCA will be solely responsible for maintenance and repairs of the facility. The YMCA will staff, manage and operate the facility. Although the county will own the building, the MOU establishes the agreement that the county will lease the facility to the YMCA for a period of 99 years at a cost of $1 per year.”
The following videos show QAC residents making their case for a continued effort to make the MOU work, along with the commissioner’s debate and subsequent voiding of the MOU while pledging to find an alternative way of bringing a YMCA to the county.
Appearing in this video are commissioners Steve Wilson, Paul Comfort, James Moran, Mark Anderson, and Robert Buckey.
Mary Margaret Revell Goodwin says
Unfortunately the headline appears to declare the death of the YMCA project, and it is not dead. ONLY the MOU is dead. It deserves to be. It was not in the best interests of the County’s taxpayers, nor had the Y shown sufficient proof they could raise the funds. The MOU needed to reflect a different set of conditions to assure that it would be built and the county would not ultimately be stuck with the bills. I wish the title had been framed a little better so that the public understands there is now a new committee to review and revive the possibilities.
Monica Sella says
Some of my fondest childhood memories are from Y activities. Too bad Kent County could not attract the Y and take advantage of everything they have to offer!