Person named to lead WECRD/YMCA capital campaign

After a nearly three-month delay in the hiring process, the Treasure Valley YMCA officially named the person that will oversee a fundraising effort to build a community recreation center in Mountain Home.

Keyra Elmo was recently hired by the YMCA to head the capital campaign, which represents the final step before construction can start on the $4.7 million facility, Phase I of the total project envisioned by the WECRD founders.

"She will be a great addition" to the capital campaign effort, said Heather Kimmel, vice president and chief fund development officer with the Treasure Valley YMCA.

Before moving to the Mountain Home area, Elmo was affiliated with various volunteer and community outreach efforts in other cities across the United States. These types of skills are needed for the capital campaign to succeed here, Kimmel said.

The campaign's outcome would ultimately determine the fate of the proposed 33,000-square-foot Phase I facility. If built, the Treasure Valley YMCA and Western Elmore County Recreation District would manage this recreation complex, located on South 18th East Street across from Mountain Home Junior High School.

To succeed, the campaign needs to raise more than a half million dollars, which would tie into money already set aside specifically for the building's construction.

Originally, the YMCA had planned to hire a capital campaign manager late last year. However, the organization felt that it didn't have enough qualified applicants to start the interview process, according to WECRD board president Jana Borgholthaus during a public hearing Dec. 12.

By January, the YMCA received additional applications for the capital campaign manager's position, allowing the hiring process to move forward, Kimmel said.

Elmo will serve as a liaison between the YMCA and the committee that will actually head up the capital campaign here. Working from the recreation district's headquarters on East 6th South Street, she's expected to start her new duties April 8.

The WECRD's board of directors expect to formally meet with her during their next meeting on April 17.

In addition to Elmo, the Treasure Valley YMCA will bring in representatives from Strategies 360 -- a national consulting group -- to get the capital campaign kick started. The consultants will serve on a temporary basis due to the limited amount of time available to complete the actual money-raising effort, according to Kimmel.

However, a lot of work remains before the campaign actually begins, she added. Results from a capital feasibility study officially released last August highlighted a number of unanswered questions and concerns regarding the project, including the facility's overall design and the actual programs the YMCA will offer here.

"We want to get people on board by answering these questions and alleviating their concerns," Kimmel said. She expects it'll take a few months to complete this public outreach effort.

The hiring of a capital campaign manager comes eight months after a feasibility study report was released that gauged whether or not it was practical to build that type of community recreation facility here. The study conducted last April included interviews with 59 individuals in the Mountain Home community. Nearly half of those interviewed favored plans to move forward with the community project.

"The plan seemed to be received eagerly" once the fact that the YMCA became part of the project and the WECRD had most of the funds needed to move forward, the report said.

The public's view of having a recreation center managed by the YMCA in collaboration with the recreation district gained favorable reviews among 64 percent of those polled.

Unfavorable marks in the study were possibly tied to the public's long-term view of the recreation district, the report indicated. According to those polled, they emphasized the WECRD hasn't accomplished much with the tax dollars it's collected over the past decade. In addition, some business owners felt they were annexed into the organization's taxing district unfairly.

"Both of these elements have created a level of mistrust and frustration," the report said.

Meanwhile, some respondents remained concerned that the facility's projected construction costs were too low, adding that having firm bids in place before the project begins was crucial to its success.

"It was reported that the City of Mountain Home has no intention of paying for these (construction) costs," the report said. "Therefore, it's crucial that the overall construction budget include them."

Those who responded in favor of the proposed project "just want to see it moving forward as soon as possible," the report said. "By getting started and moving forward immediately, it would begin to change the minds of many of the naysayers who have been frustrated that nothing has happened... in 10 years."

Ultimately, a majority of those polled consider the YMCA recreation center an economic benefit to the Mountain Home community.

According to the survey, 63 percent of those polled remained optimistic that the capital campaign could raise the $600,000 needed to start construction.

Phase I of the plan involves essentially gyms and meeting rooms. Phase II, which will follow about a dozen years later, would provide the indoor public swimming pool that was the main purpose for which the WECRD was created.