FAIRMONT– Amy Long and John Kasper, members of the Fairmont Area Community Center Foundation, gave a presentation at Bureau 14 Wednesday evening. While the Community Center Advisory Board makes recommendations to the city council on planning, construction and funding, the Foundation oversees capital campaign efforts and oversees the agreements and operations specific to the YMCA.

Kasper and Long touched on the background of the proposed community center and the efforts to bring one to Fairmont in the past.

Long shared some key milestones dating back to 2016 when the city council approved a question about raising the local option sales tax to be on the ballot. In the November election of that year the community passed it.

“From 2016 to 2019 a ton of work happened with community volunteer efforts to build upon the design and concept of the community center,” Long said.

She said this included engaging in conversations with consultants and community stakeholders as well as engaging in conversations with the YMCA.

All of that led to a project proposal to the city council and in Dec. 2019 the council approved a resolution to commit $14 million using the local option sales tax to put toward the construction of the community center project.

“That was contingent on two things. First being the YMCA oversees operations of the community center and $6 million in private funds raised to go toward the project,” Long said.

She said efforts over last two years were somewhat affected by Covid but in 2021 the community center committee asked council for recommitment of the 2019 resolution, which council gave.

“Shortly after that, in Aug. 2021, our anchor donors came forward and announced collectively $4.5 million would be committed privately toward this project. Those anchor donors are the Krahmer family, the Rosen family and Mayo Clinic,” Long said.

That donation led to the creation of the Foundation, which also includes John Edman, Fred Krahmer and Karin Rosen.

Long also shared other details, including the site of the proposed community center, which would be along Johnson Street near Mayo Clinic Health System-Fairmont and Fairmont High School.

As it stands, Long said the community center would have a field house, gymnasium, running track, aquatic park, ice arena, community rooms and child watch.

Long shared some more about the YMCA’s programing. She also said the current proposal is for the ice in the community center to be the future home of Fairmont Youth Hockey Association.

Moving to funding, It was shared that the $30 million estimate is a 2019 number. Long said they’re well-aware of inflation and how costs have dramatically changed.

Fourteen-million from the local option sales tax is 50 percent of that number and the anchor donors make up 15 percent and for the remaining 35 percent, Long said the Foundation is working on additional private donations now.

One person asked how much cash on hand they have. Long said they have one-time cash donations of $5,800 and and additional $50,000 from the Rosen family and an additional $10,000 from Mayo.

Another person asked more about child care as Long said the YMCA is the largest child care provider in the country. It was asked if there would be a spot for childcare in the community center.

Long said she would take that to the advisory board, which determines the scope of the building. She also said the YMCA will come in and evaluate community needs and she said they’ve shared with the YMCA that daycare is a big need here.

Moving back to cost, it was asked if they know how much the cost has changed from 2019. Kasper said it would depend on the scope of the project– what’s the wishlist and what’s reality.

A representative of Lakeview Methodist Health Care Center shared that its project started out at $24 million, which is what it was built for, but had they started later, the engineers said it would have been $37 million instead of $24 million.

“Those are realities we’ll have to deal with,” Kasper said.

Someone else asked what the city has seen on returns on local option sales tax, as a lot of communities make quite a bit more revenue than what was projected.

City Administrator Cathy Reynolds said the revenues are a lot higher with the local option sales tax than they had originally anticipated them being, but the key is what was approved.

“It’s not what we’re generating, it’s what we were approved for. The approval is $15 million plus the interest and the cost of issuance on a bond for $15 million or 25 years, whatever comes earlier,” Reynolds said.

She said they anticipate to hit the $15 million in about 23 or 24 years.

Reynolds said the local option sales tax was actually approved to cover three things: a community center, trails and recreational amenities. She said the council had approved $14 million out of the $15 million to go toward the community center and a million would go toward trails and recreational amenities.

It was asked if more of the revenue coming in could be used toward a community center. Reynolds said if they wanted to up the $14 million, they would have to go and ask for another half-cent on top of the sales tax that’s already there.

Kasper wrapped up the presentation with sharing some statistics provided by the YMCA on the benefits a community center could bring, which include meals provided in after school programs and the number of youth participating in programs. He also touched on how a community center can strengthen the economy and help with retention for businesses and families.