YMCA contacted for rec help; Supervisor says group could help program

Published 12:12 am Friday, February 13, 2015

NATCHEZ — When it comes to consolidating the city and county recreation programs, at least one county supervisor is suggesting officials put their pride on the shelf and go to the YMCA.

Adams County Supervisor Mike Lazarus said he reached out to the director of the Metropolitan YMCAs of Mississippi about helping with the area’s recreation program in an effort to find a solution to the seemingly slow moving process of getting a program off the ground.

“The community needs to come together on this, and I think everybody trusts the YMCA,” Lazarus said. “It is a name that everybody can relate to, has a good reputation and knows more about running recreation complexes than we do. I wanted to open the dialogue and find out what they can help us with.”

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Lazarus said the idea can even be traced to the lease agreement Magnolia Bluffs Casino signed with the City of Natchez, which includes — but does not require — a suggestion that the casino’s community development fund can be used for the development of a YMCA or civil rights museum.

The area already has the groundwork for a YMCA program, Lazarus said.

“When I spoke with the director, he told me you have got to have a committee in place, a resolution signed by the city and county in place and a proposed budget,” Lazarus said. “You have everything we need to get started right there.”

Lazarus also said YMCA officials told him a pool might not be the best option for recreation.

“They said splash pads work out for the public,” he said.

Metropolitan YMCA of Mississippi Executive Director David Reeves could not be reached for comment this week, but in a phone message Thursday he said he had “very little information” about the Natchez effort but he was trying to help officials at this time.

Natchez-Adams County Recreation Commission Chair Tate Hobdy said he has set a meeting with Reeves for later this month to find out more.

“We are still in the preliminary phase, but the YMCA has a lot of good programs and a lot of industry experience, so we will try to use as much of that experience as we can in whatever capacity,” he said.

Magnolia Bluffs Casino’s community development board, which is tasked with recommending how the city spend the casino’s community development money, has proposed the annual payments be used to partially fund the construction of a pool and soccer field to kick off the area’s long-stalled recreation program.

Former mayor Phillip West, who is currently a member of the advisory board, had during his term as mayor tried to have a YMCA program locate to the area, and even hosted a presentation in which YMCA officials outlined what could be done.

West said he had been impressed with the organization’s facilities in Augusta, Ga., which included a natatorium, basketball courts, splash pools and walking facilities inside a single facility.

“I thought a YMCA would be good for our community,” he said. “I was so impressed with having that kind of quality facility all inside, I thought that would be something that would be good for us to have in our community.”

Hurricane Katrina sidelined the effort, however, and West left office in 2008. It was because of the initial YMCA effort the possibility was included in the final casino contract, he said.

In the current context, the community development board has discussed the possibility the YMCA could provide guidance on the operation of a pool, West said.

“We wanted to see if their regulations would allow for a pool that we could develop in the Liberty Park area, if they could formally, contractually oversee that,” West said. “Some options we discussed early on was possibility of examining an overseer of the pool itself, if we could associate through the YMCA to have that done if that was the most feasible thing to do.”