NATCHEZ — An official with the YMCA said the organization is excited to be coming to Natchez and looks to start pool and after school programs in its first year.

“Teaching kids to swim, that is the foundation of any aquatics program, and it will be the basis of the program here,” YMCA Director Casey Custer said. “We will try to teach every second-grader in town how to swim.”

Custer, a director with the Metropolitan YMCA of Mississippi, was a guest speaker at the Natchez-Adams County Chamber of Commerce’s weekly Friday Forum.

The YMCA and local governments are in the process of signing contracts that will allow the YMCA to manage a recreation program and some facilities for Natchez and Adams County.

The first phase of that project, a pool and multipurpose fields, will be located near the FEMA 361 building and Natchez High School. The city and county governments have already agreed to fund the $1.2 million phase, and have committed additional capital improvement dollars and operational funds for the next 10 years.

“In the first year, the first and most important thing is we get this pool built,” Custer said.

“There is no specific design for it yet, but we have been meeting with an architect. It would be fantastic if it was built by late summer, so there would be a few weeks of activities there, but we will see.”

The pool will be an outdoor facility, but it will be designed so a cover can be added as funds become available, Custer said.

The L-shaped pool would have a zero-entry end on the shorter side, while the longer side would be appropriate for swimming lessons and competitions. The long side of the pool would be 25 yards by eight competition lanes wide.

“There will be no deep dive end as currently (envisioned),” he said. “There will not be a lot of down time at the pool, though during the afternoon there may be an open family session, but it will be heavily scheduled and structured.”

In the first year, the YMCA will also start soccer programs and oversee tennis and will assume some responsibility over parks — such as Duncan Park — though at this time it won’t be taking over the city’s golf program or youth baseball.

It will likewise work to start determining what it can offer in terms of after school programs, which Custer said are, “a safe place where those kids can go with a structured afternoon.”

The programs would likely be hosted at the schools themselves because it helps cut down on transportation issues, he said, and the Natchez YMCA would likely not have a central location.

“We hope we will eventually have a home base, but it’s not in the plan right now,” Custer said.

The YMCA at Natchez would be a membership organization just like it is elsewhere, but Custer said whatever the cost of membership will be, “is going to be moderate.”

The organization is also willing to work with children who may have an issue with paying fees associated with the aquatic program, he said.

“We will have some moderate fees, but we won’t let that get in the way,” he said. “Through our programs, we try to generate some revenue for the YMCA, but money will not be a barrier for that program.”