A statement from the City Youth Board on the prospect of having the Genesee Area Family YMCA operate the municipality’s youth program:
“The City Youth Board worked with the interim city manager through the RFP (Request For Proposal) process and interviewed one agency for the city contract to run youth services. Although, there are always reservations as to whether or not this is the right decision, we were all in agreement that the city should enter into a contract with the YMCA.
“Mr. (Jeff) Townsend answered all our questions satisfactorily and the YMCA is prepared to resume operations of the Liberty Center on April 1st if awarded the contract.
“We were all in agreement that this would be the best option for resuming youth services in a timely fashion since the city laid off all of the part-time staff during the pandemic, and the executive director and the program coordinator both left for other positions. These circumstances left no one with experience to resume the programming leaving contracting the services out as our only viable option.
“The Youth Board works in an advisory capacity and at the end of the day the board is eager to see youth programming resume at the Liberty Center for Youth and through the summer recreational program.
“It would have been nice if we had received more feedback from the community but we understand this has happened pretty quickly and we do feel the COVID-19 protocols have limited community involvement. We are all sympathetic to the city’s budget concerns. However, we feel this is also a quality of life issue and a service that makes our community vibrant and safer. We are investing in our city’s future, our children.”
David Twichell, president
Paula Fischer
Lydia Schauf
