YMCA cites financial reasons for Dover-Foxcroft facility closure

DOVER-FOXCROFT — Several days after announcing that the Piscataquis Regional YMCA operations at 48 Park Street will be closing no later than Friday, Nov. 1, Old Town Orono YMCA CEO Scott Wilcox hosted a mid-afternoon webinar on Monday, Oct. 7 to explain the decision through a question and answer session.

Wilcox said the method was selected “so that everybody hears the same answer to the same question.” He said YMCA officials understand the impending closure has raised concerts, but the plan will proceed with the decision not being made lightly.

In July 2022 the board of directors for the two organizations formally voted to integrate as one organization. For almost two years prior the Old Town Orono YMCA had been providing leadership to the PRYMCA through a temporary management agreement. In the 2-plus years since then the PRYMCA operated as a branch of the Old Town Orono YMCA.

The Oct. 4 shuttering announcement said aftereffects of the pandemic, reduction in memberships, programming, and declining public funds proved to be a combination of obstacles too great to continue operations. As a result of the declining revenues and escalating expenses it was a clear decision that operations were financially unsustainable. The PRYMCA has been in operation since 1988.

The first question asked of Wilcox is why building siding was just redone if there were not adequate funds to keep the PRYMCA open.

“The siding project had been approved in the previous budget, and so that money was already set aside to utilize so that’s what we chose to do,” he said. “The siding needed to be completed no matter what we did regardless because of the amount of rot and lack of insulation underneath the existing siding at the time so that’s why we went ahead with the project.”

He said the organization has a $668,163 endowment with the Maine Community Foundation. Unrestricted funds will be used to pay off the outstanding mortgage and to maintain the integrity of the building while the Old Town Orono Board of Directors wait to receive offers on the property. A $400,000 mortgage was taken out by the then PRYMCA Board of Directors on Dec. 3, 2019 and the Old Town Orono YMCA incurred this debt in July 2022.

“They are going to utilize those funds that are available, they are non-restricted to pay off the mortgage and what is left in non-restricted funds will be utilized for operational costs until its closing,” Wilcox said. He said directors are awaiting advice from legal counsel regarding the remaining donor-restricted funds as the state has strict statutes on what happens to funds when a non-profit closes.

Wilcox was asked why there was no advance notice, such as to provide time for fundraising efforts to keep the PRYMCA open.

“It was an operational decision to not notify anybody, the board and financial committee labored over this for several weeks and months as to how to make this work,” he said. “Senior programming worked on this, finance worked on this, and it was a decision made at the last board meeting to go ahead and close as Old Town could no longer sustain to keep it open.”

The CEO said the Old Town facility was also facing a budget shortfall by using funds to keep the PRYMCA doors open, mentioning a $197,000 deficit in Dover-Foxcroft. “The board in Old Town, we can no longer sustain to run our budget to the point where we couldn’t run either by offsetting costs in Dover,” Wilcox said.

“The plan for the building once the mortgage is paid off is the building will be winterized, the board in Old Town is more than willing to meet and speak with people who may have an interest in that facility but it is not going to continue to operate under the Y brand,” he said. “We are more than willing to work with people that have a business plan that want to work with us for the transition of that facility to somebody else.”

Sale proceeds would go to the Old Town Orono YMCA, to help cover what the organization has put into the Dover-Foxcroft building.

“This was not a decision that was made lightly, this was a decision that was made over a period of time,” Wilcox said when asked about the programs that will no longer be offered. The pool will shut down immediately and other services will be closing over the coming weeks.

“It took a lot of discussion and we also discussed the impact to the families that we have,” he said. “Unfortunately the Old Town Orono YMCA can no longer help offset costs without jeopardizing its own in Old Town. This is unfortunate but we are unable to continue to support the shortfalls in Dover.”

Memberships and programming will be prorated and refunded with dues not drafted as of Nov. 1. All memberships will be honored at the Old Town Orono YMCA.

Wilcox said Old Town owns the building content, such as the fitness equipment, but no decisions on what to do with these items has been made.

He said the costs to operate the pool are among the biggest reasons for the financial shortfall. 

“When you close the pool you close what the Y experience is and that wasn’t something that we were looking to do, run just a fitness facility,” the CEO said. “Again that decision was not made easily, we know that Y is important to members of that community.”

The possibility of reducing staff hours was also brought up. 

“The Y experience is not to walk into an empty lobby where there isn’t anyone to greet you and we thought by reducing staffing that would offset reducing programing and we didn’t want to not have a good Y experience when you came in,” Wilcox said.

“Again it was not an easy decision to vote on closing the (PRYMCA),” he said. “We understand that people are frustrated and mad and we are in hopes that maybe somebody in the community can form something and put it together and work with us to take that facility over and run it the way that they think it should be at a profit.”

He said the next Old Town Orono YMCA directors meeting would be at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 30 in Old Town, and there is a public comment session.

“The rest of the strategy of closing is something we are in talks with here with my staff, that will be made public and published,” Wilcox said.