Cohoes scrambling to fill void
The Cohoes City School District is “finalizing the arrangements” with a provider to run the before- and after-school programs that serve 150 children at the city’s three elementary schools in the wake of the abrupt shutdown of the Cohoes Community Center.
The programs will continue to operate in the interim by using volunteers, the school district said Monday.
School officials, the city, the state Department of Labor and the Capital District Child Care Council have been working to assist employees and families after the community center closed its doors Friday after being unable to meet payroll.
The center’s debt — from unpaid bills and the mortgage on the 47-year-old building at 22-40 Remsen St. to the line of credit
accessed by the community center — adds up to more than $450,000, making it a major impediment as school district and city officials struggle to restore recreational and childcare services to residents.
“I was sadly disappointed when we couldn’t pull it off,” Mayor Shawn Morse said Monday. He said officials were waiting to see an audit of the center’s finances.
Proposals discussed over the weekend, the mayor said, include having the city assume ownership of the center; finding a new organization to run it; merging the community center and city’s recreational programs; overhauling operations to get rid of programs operating at a loss; and exploring in depth the relocation of the Cohoes Public Library to the community center to increase use of the facility.
City School District Superintendent Jennifer Spring said the city has
pulled together to keep the child-care programs going, but can’t go farther until the community center pursues a long-term solution.
Volunteers drawn from district staff, the PTA, Board of Education and city Common Council will provide the supervision to keep the programs open at Abram Lansing, Harmony Hill and Van Schaick elementary schools. The district hopes to hand off the before- and after-school programs to the new provider — the identity of which has not yet been released — on Nov. 5, said Aaron Cagwin, a district spokesman.
The universal prekindergarten program, also run by the center, was already housed in city schools.
On Friday, the families of an estimated 29 toddlers and preschoolers who attended day care at the center were suddenly left with nowhere to take their children.
The Capital District Child Care Council did research on other available
openings in the city of Cohoes and found none. But officials did help four families place children in day care outside the city, said council Executive Director Abbe Kovacik.
The closure of the nonprofit center stunned the community.
The Cohoes Basketball Club announced it was partnering with the group Community Miracles in Action to keep the program running for roughly 125 players. Practices will take place around the school district, while games will be played on weekends at Cohoes Middle School.
Just after Friday’s closure, former Cohoes Mayor and current state Assemblyman John T. Mcdonald III said the center had racked up $450,000 in debt. Mcdonald said he stepped in because his elderly mother, Barbara, is on the center’s board and has been involved in the center since it opened more than four decades ago.
On Thursday, the center’s board held an emergency meeting and posted a call for applicants for the open executive director job.
The board met with community members at an informal meeting on Thursday night to see what emergency measures could bed one to keep the center open. A Gofundme drive was started to raise $100,000, but was quickly canceled. A second Gofundme program was launched Friday to raise $50,000 for employees who couldn’t be paid by the community center; the organizer of that effort said the first checks should go
out by the end of the week.
Mcdonald said his mother asked him two months ago to talk to the center’s then-executive director, Curtis Hovey, about its dwindling finances. Mcdonald said Hovey said the center was losing revenue because of declining enrollment in the day care program, but assured the lawmaker the budget remained sound.
About a month later, Hovey was asked to resign from the center, Mcdonald said. The center’s former director stepped in to help — and began discovering bills that had not been paid. On Monday, Mcdonald said he could not provide a figure as to how much the center owes, but the outstanding payments include National Grid bills.
“All the sudden, (the board) realized they were going to be unable to meet payroll,” Mcdonald said.
The assemblyman said he couldn’t comment on why Hovey was asked to resign. Hovey couldn’t be reached for comment after the center’s closing.
Mcdonald confirmed that the Albany County district attorney’s office is looking into the center’s finances.
Cohoes Community Center board president David Mitola, a dentist in Cohoes, did not return a call seeking comment Monday. The board’s treasurer, Thomas Jacques — also the city’s assessor — did not return requests seeking comment.
“The board had blind confidence in their former director,” Mcdonald said. “I’d like to think Curtis didn’t do anything
inappropriate because he’s been legitimate every time I’ve dealt with him over the last seven years he’s been there.”
“But obviously,” Mcdonald said, “a lot of things caught up to them.”
An audit of the Cohoes Community Center’s 2016 finances — which the nonprofit submitted to the charities unit of the state attorney general’s office, showed that government reimbursements for universal pre-kindergarten, Department of Social Service vouchers for day care subsidies and charges for the center’s services covered its $1.7 million in expenses.
But it also noted that two years after Hovey became executive director, the center obtained a revolving line of credit for up to $60,000 with First Niagara Bank. At the end of 2016, the center also had $133,940 left on a mortgage it took out on the building; Mcdonald said that loan likely covered renovation costs inside the center.
On Friday, more than 200 people visited the center’s Facebook page to express sadness and outrage about the sudden shutdown. Others questioned how the center’s board could not have known weeks ago that the end was near.
“Shame on the Board for sleeping while the books were being tended to!! You have an obligation to explain where the funds went!!,” one commenter wrote.
Mcdonald said the center violated state Labor Department rules by
not providing notice that its employees would be losing their jobs. Private sector employers in New York that have more than 50 workers are required to issue what’s known as a WARN notice 90 days before closing.
People are also calling Mcdonald’s Assembly office to express concern that the cost of their center memberships will not be reimbursed.
The community center, which opened in 1971, has an Olympic-sized pool, weight room and gymnasium. It offered swim lessons, exercise classes, and space for activities like bingo.
Morse said the building, at the north end of Remsen Street, is an anchor for continued growth along the length of the city’s downtown business district. “The community center is much more than recreation programs,” Morse said. “It’s a vital part of our Remsen Street revitalization.”
Mcdonald said he met with community center board members Sunday night to discuss the center’s finances and see if there is a way to reopen. The Department of Labor was also at the center meeting with employees Monday to discuss unemployment benefits and job placement. A Healthy Capital District Initiative representative was also there to provide health insurance suggestions for workers, Mcdonald said.
“You have a bunch of well-intentioned community members,” Mcdonald said of the center’s board, “and they’re stuck holding the bag.”