May 11—PLATTSBURGH — The City of Plattsburgh has signed a contract with the YMCA to annually provide City youth under 12 the opportunity to participate in its sponsored sports programming.

Currently, the YMCA serves close to 300 City youth under the age of 12 in soccer, baseball and basketball programming. Councilors approved a $35,000 contract, which will look to cover the children's registration fees at the YMCA starting this fall, at their most recent Common Council meeting.

"In 2019, despite public outcry, the City abolished a majority of the recreation department, finally closing its doors in 2020. That created a number of problems to solve including facility maintenance, staffing, and the elimination of sports programming," City Mayor Chris Rosenquest said.

"Over the last year we've spoken with other municipalities and providers to gauge and develop partnership opportunities. The partnership with the Plattsburgh YMCA landed."

FORMER REC CENTER USE

Over the last several months, the mayor's office staff and Plattsburgh YMCA CEO, Justin Ihne, have been meeting to discuss this opportunity.

The City also recently began leasing the former City Rec Center on US Oval to the YMCA. This has been a benefit to both organizations as the YMCA had been looking to expand fitness facilities and the City had the appropriate property to provide, the city said in a press release.

"We are very excited about the opportunity for this expanded partnership with the City of Plattsburgh. Many YMCAs around the country have embarked in these kinds of partnerships and with great success," Ihne said.

"In the end it's about getting more kids active and fostering activities that promote working together, leadership and increase confidence and self esteem."

ROSENQUEST: RECREATION A 'MINDSET'

The City plans to leverage the $160,000 in annual savings from taking the Crete Center offline to offset the $35,000 cost for registration fees.

"Recreation cannot be reduced to a building or a sports program — it's a mindset that's woven into the cultural fabric of our community," the mayor added.

"Playing sports is just a single component to a more global view of recreation in the City of Plattsburgh. Recreation must also include park improvement, play spaces, trail development, bike paths, and year-round outdoor recreational access."

While the measure passed with unanimous support from the council at their last meeting, Councilor Elizabeth Gibbs (D-Ward 3) was concerned $35,000 wasn't enough and said she didn't want to risk any children potentially being turned away in the future.

"I support it. I want to make that really clear," Gibbs said.

"I would like to see an updated agreement or resolution that doesn't cap it ... I have to be really honest with you, a few extra hundred dollars so that 12 and under children can participate in some of these sports is not going to harp as an expenditure."

$35,000 FIGURE

Rosenquest explained how they decided on the $35,000 figure to begin with.

"When we first started having this conversation, and looking at the current enrollment, it looked like there was about $27,000 expended in registrations," he said.

"We certainly felt that raising that by the $8,000 or so that we added would cover any additional registrations ... so we felt that the $35,000 is a good number..."

Gibbs added that she would like to see the language in the resolution changed to allow the council to approve more money if needed.

"I know it's being based on a certain number of ... city children enrolled. I would like to see an agreement where we can open it up for more enrollment," she said.

"No one should be put in a position where children are going to get turned away and I would like more specific firm language to that effect."

Rosenquest supported Gibbs' proposed idea and said they would amend the language to allow for future adjustments to the annual cost if it is deemed necessary.

"If it pleases the council, I would say let's start with this number and as registrations come in and we meet that threshold, we come back and say OK, we're flexible with increasing that, we've got some contingency funding, we've got some savings ... in rec complex. I would say let's start with this, but of course, we can come back and make some adjustments as we see increased registration beyond this amount."

Email: cnewton@pressrepublican.com

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