The St. Joseph City Council, at its meeting this week, discussed putting a committee together to consider various ideas for keeping the downtown YMCA building open.
As previously reported, the downtown Y is set to close soon due to the building being expensive to maintain.
Several people involved with the downtown YMCA spoke at the meeting about the impact of the facility.
“This building, I understand that we cannot keep it as a YMCA,” April Hook told the city council. “However, it is not just a pool, it is racquetball courts, it is basketball courts and it is located in a place in town where it can most benefit the families that cannot go to the college, to go to Genesis, because of its location."
Hook asked the city to get the community involved to help make it a community center to keep open for the city.
St. Joseph Planning and Community Development Director Clint Thompson addressed some possible options moving forward as the city looks into trying to keep the building open.
"The board understands the city's desire to assist, I think we're just kind of in a stand down process at this time," Thompson says. "If they, as an entity, are not successful in moving forward with new ownership, then I think the city could have an opportunity whether it be tax credits, opportunity zone or some type of other funds, even maybe CDBG."
The council discussed other ideas and eventually agreed to form a committee, which one councilmember dubbed, 'Save the Y Committee,' to further look into funding options to keep the building open.