Published: May 12, 2008 09:43 pm            

Meeting is a go

Last week, the Howard County Commissioners declined to amend their 2008 Capital Improvement Plan to include $300,000 toward the purchase of a downtown site for a new YMCA.

According to the motion made by Paul Raver, he and his fellow commissioners believe a list of issues “must be considered, publicly debated and resolved before the Board should consider committing public funds to [help] purchase” a site for the Y.

The motion wasn’t without merit. A public debate would be beneficial in this discussion. So, last week, we proposed representatives of the group seeking to secure public funding for a downtown site, the YMCA board, the city, county and Center Township explain the downtown Y proposal in a town-hall meeting. We, and our friends at the Kokomo Perspective, offered to coordinate – even moderate – what we foresaw as a question-and-answer session.

Monday, the parties took us up on our offer.

The town-hall meeting will be at 6:30 p.m., June 11. We have yet to secure a location for the event, but we’re looking at a downtown site.

The YMCA has graciously agreed to give tours of its facility prior to the meeting. Those tours will begin at 5 p.m. June 11.

The commissioners offered a list of nine questions they want answered before weighing participation in site purchase for the Y. The group trying to secure the public funding says many of those questions already have answers and will share them with the commissioners.

Perhaps you have questions. Maybe you just want to hear more detail about the plan. Join us at 6:30 p.m. June 11.

We’ll get back to you soon with the location of the town-hall meeting.

IF YOU GO:

What: Town-hall meeting for the purchase of downtown property for a new YMCA.

When: 6:30 p.m. June 11. Tours of the YMCA will begin at 5 p.m. prior to the meeting.

Where: To be announced. We’re looking to secure a downtown meeting location.

        

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