PORT ANGELES — Is a newly formed Sequim Aquatic Recreation Center beginning to take shape?
The pool-athletic facility closed its doors to the public Oct. 30 in the face of voters’ rejection of a levy in February and a metropolitan park district measure in August.
But after subsequently receiving key pledges of support from public entities including Olympic Medical Center, SARC, as it’s known, reached another rung in regaining its vigor Friday, courtesy of the Clallam County Opportunity Fund Board of Directors.
The board unanimously recommended that $731,705 of an estimated $1 million of the county’s 2016 Opportunity Fund money be spent on a small-mobile-home-size air-handling and domestic water and wastewater system that SARC needs to survive — if it reopens next year under a planned management agreement with the Clallam County YMCA.
The county commissioners are likely to consider the grant expenditure Jan. 11, Administrator Jim Jones said later Friday.
He indicated the request should be well-received.
Commissioner-elect Mark Ozias and Commissioners Mike Chapman and Bill Peach already have publicly expressed favorable sentiments toward the purchase, Jones said.
SARC board Chairman Frank Pickering, who gave the Opportunity Fund board a lengthy justification for the grant, was in understandably good spirits after the meeting.
“That was a key vote we needed to have, very much so,” he said. “The partners came together.
“There’s a team cooperative effort here to get this facility back in operation,” Pickering said.
Pickering even suggested Sequim YMCA at SARC might become SARC’s new name.
He said later Friday that the previous grant application estimate of $760,500 was reduced to $731,705 after additional evaluation of the project and could still be revised downward as the project progresses.
“This will be a very thorough project,” he said.
Opportunity Fund board members were swayed by the team approach toward supporting the revival of SARC that would be realized with substantial financial help from OMC and the city of Sequim and the Sequim School District — with management expertise provided by the YMCA.
Pledged funding consists of $60,000 annually from OMC and $30,000 annually for three years from the city of Sequim, as recently approved by the City Council.
City funding is contingent on the YMCA and SARC board agreeing on YMCA management of the pool-athletic center and on SARC receiving the Opportunity Fund grant.
YMCA fundraising chairman Gary Huff said the YMCA board could consider the management agreement by mid-February.
The SARC board of directors, which operates through the support of a junior taxing district, would act solely as the facility’s landlord.
Pickering presented a preliminary $1.04 million 2016 operating budget that showed $1.13 million in revenue, 10 percent of which is OMC, Sequim and school district funding.
He said it was based on budgets for a number of YMCAs and a management study put together in anticipation of the Clallam County Family YMCA running the facility.
“I was very happy to see OMC, the city and the other entities are on board,” Opportunity Fund board member Sharon DelaBarre said before voting to recommend grant approval.
“They are obviously looking to bring a new level of experienced management to the fore.
“The other thing, I think, is this is an ongoing operation that speaks on so many levels, not just the kids, not just the health, not just the real estate, not just the quality of life. It’s all of those things, completely interwoven.”
Pickering said OMC would use a portion of the facility for expanded physical therapy, cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation, sports medicine and chronic disease management services.
“OMC is a key partner,” he said.
The public comment portion of the meeting included no naysayers.
Supporters included a half-dozen speakers who favored the allocation.
But board member Bill Hermann said the preliminary budget contained “a bunch of pie-in-the-sky revenue,” including an anticipated $100,000 in contributions — about 10 percent of the budget.
“How are you going to increase all these numbers when you couldn’t do it in the last five years?” Hermann asked.
It also included $882,000 in membership dues.
Pickering said SARC relied on membership dues for 80 percent of revenue, far more than other athletic facilities.
SARC, which cannot impose automatic 1 percent increases, did not seek a levy for a dozen years, then barely failed to gain a 60 percent supermajority in February for a property tax levy of 12 cents per $1,000 of property valuation.
When the vote came, Hermann went along with the majority of DelaBarre, Dan Leinan, Joe Murray, Orville Campbell and Alan Barnard.
“It’s really about the kids, for me,” Hermann said.
“They really need a place to learn how to swim and recreate in that manner.”
He still wasn’t convinced SARC’s 2016 spending plan was viable.
“Business-wise, I’m not convinced it makes all that much sense,” he said.
That wasn’t DelaBarre’s take.
“SARC is in a position to come into the 21st century,” she said.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
