An Arizona county is handing over the management of a second municipal community center to the local YMCA.
Pima County (AZ) supervisors have agreed to a new partnership with the YMCA of Southern Arizona. The nonprofit organization will operate the Kino Community Center in Tucson. The YMCA has operated another county facility, the Northwest YMCA Pima County Community Center, also in Tucson, for several years.
The YMCA and the county are each contributing $500,000 for capital improvements to the Kino facility. One of these projects will be a major renovation of the facility’s swimming pool, including the construction of a second entrance to the pool to allow access to residents who do not want to become members of the YMCA, according to a report in the Arizona Daily Star. There are also plans to expand the facility’s locker rooms.
Documents detailing the operational agreement made public by Pima County state that the partnership will last for 25 years and will allow either entity to opt out after five years. The terms of the partnership also state that Pima County will assume any operating losses in the next two years and will split operating losses with the YMCA for the three years that follow. The YMCA is expected to take over all operating costs after a five-year period.
In a Sept. 13 letter to the county’s board of supervisors, Pima County Administrator C.H. Huckleberry said that a partnership with the YMCA would benefit the health of the greater community. Part of the Y’s programming at the Kino center will include collaboration with Pima County and the University of Arizona in diabetes management and exercise rehabilitation, Huckleberry wrote.