Pottstown picks local agency to run center
The number of potential operators for the Ricketts Community Center has now risen to five, including the borough itself, and council will hear from the fifth at its meeting Tuesday, Oct. 15.
According to the agenda posted on the borough website, that is also the meeting at which council will make its decision on who runs the center starting on Jan. 1.
The decision became necessary in August, after the Olivet Boys and Girls Club abruptly announced its decision to pull out of the operation just two days after borough council had renewed the club’s lease for four more years.
Since then the borough has scrambled to find a new operator.
Five have emerged and all four who presented at the Oct. 9 council meeting said they would welcome collaborating with any qualified organization.
STRIVE Initiative
The first and most familiar is the STRIVE Initiative, which had made a bid for the center in May, but whose presenters challenged council at the Oct. 9 work session with an unusual approach — total collaboration.
Presenter Hannah Davis, commenting on the amount of time allotted each applicant, said the five minutes given for each presentation “is not adequate to consider the future of the Ricketts Center. You would devote more time to hiring a new employee,” she said.
She reminded council that during previous meetings, members of the public told council they want the borough to run the center, and this is STRIVE’s preference as well.
That point was reiterated later in the meeting when Johnny Corson, president of the Pottstown chapter of the NAACP, said he has been asking for 20 years for the borough to take back operation of the center.
He said a recent article in The Mercury outlining the history of the center showed it worked best when it was run by the borough. “I am here today because borough ran the center and gave me a place to go,” Corson said.
Davis and STRIVE copresenter David Charles echoed that message. “I am sitting here tonight because you had the right director who cared about the people who were there,” said Charles.
They presented two options, one would involve STRIVE running the center in collaboration with the borough, providing programming and bowing out as the center becomes self sufficient.
The other option has a goal of creating a qualified board for a new non-profit community based organization to either run the center, or to advise the borough on running the center.
“If you want to do something right, you don’t rush into a decision,” said Davis.
YWCA Tri-County Area
The next group to make a presentation to council was the YWCA Tri-County Area.
This presentation outlined a more traditional approach in that the YWCA would, like Olivet before it, take on the full operation of the center and its programming.
Executive Director Stacey Woodland said the $365,000 annual budget would be supplemented with a grandparent mentoring program already in place at the YW, and would expand existing programs for boys and men.
Woodland also said the YW would undertake a three-year study of community wants and needs in order to plan for future needs and programs.
Boyertown Area Multi-Service
In existence for 45 years and with a pool of 600 volunteers, Executive Director Lydia Messinger told council that the program has a $1.5 million operating budget and current runs seven different programs.
They include Meals on Wheels, the Center at Spring Street with 1,500 members 55 years or older, a community food pantry and wellness council as well as a three-member development staff to raise money.
Their proposal included keeping Ricketts open evenings, weekends and over the summer as well as a focus on helping low-income families, the hungry and the homeless.
Messinger said the money raised in Pottstown for the Ricketts Center would stay there, and not be mingled with other fundraising done by the agency.
Parks and Recreation Department
Michael Lenhart, the department’s director, and program director Andie Graham made the final presentation at the Oct. 9 council meeting.
Lenhart outlined a $185,000 budget that would be “staff heavy,” noting that “volunteers are great, but they burn out.”
Operation by the borough would also mean Saturday programming and homework help, said Graham.
He said having the department run Ricketts would require a director for the center, but also provide a location for the borough summer camp, which will next year no longer be allowed to operate out of Pottstown school buildings due to a decision by the district.
The total impact on the borough budget would be $37,000 in addition to the $40,000 the borough contributes to the center’s operation every year.
All presenters’ budgets presumed the continued $100,000 annual contribution from the Pottstown Area Health and Wellness Foundation, which has indicated it wants to see other funding sources as well.
Centro Cultural Latinos Unidos
The final organization making an offer to run the center is Centro Cultural Latinos Unidos, often referred to as CCLU.
Billing itself as “the only Pottstown-based grassroots organization addressing the needs of Latino children, youth and parents,” the website lists Councilwoman Rita Paez as its executive director.
Borough Solicitor Charles D. Garner Jr. noted at the Oct. 9 meeting that Paez would have to recuse herself from all discussion and voting on the issue due to her connection with the organization and the potential for a conflict of interest.
There was no presenter for CCLU at the Oct. 9 meeting, but the agenda for the Oct. 15 meeting includes a presentation by them, as well as a possible vote on who will operate the center.
The meeting begins at 7 p.m. and is open to the public.