Faced with mounting debt and declining revenues, the Mt. Diablo YMCA announced last week that the Clayton Valley branch will close all operations at the end of March. The Delta Family Fitness Center in Oakley will also close and the future is uncertain for the San Ramon Valley facility. Day care at the Delta facility has so far survived the cuts.

The YMCA has functioned as the recreation department for the city of Clayton since 2003, providing after-school programs, youth and adult sports and summer camps for Clayton residents for a fee. The income isn’t enough to support the program, and they can no longer draw from other resources to pay operating costs, says Jennifer Beck, program director for the Clayton branch. Beck is hopeful that the YMCA will return to Clayton when the economy improves.

While the Clayton branch has never been self-sustaining, city manager Gary Napper says that’s not unusual. Recreation programs typically don’t recover more than about 70 percent of their operating cost.

The loss of the YMCA will leave Clayton without a recreation program.

“The reality is, this is the unfortunate, heartbreaking casualty of the current economic situation,” Napper laments. “But the city just can’t take it on.”

The gym is owned by the Mt. Diablo Unified School District and was built on land donated by the city of Clayton. A joint-use agreement gives the city the right to use the facility during non-school hours. The cost just for utilities and custodian tops $60,000 a year, which the city has been passing through to the YMCA. As of Dec. 31, the Y was more than $83,000 in arrears and will owe another $15,000 for the first quarter of 2010. The YMCA has been behind in payments before, but Napper isn’t worried.

“We will get paid,” he says. “Every year, the auditors question this debt, but every year we have been paid.”

Napper has tried unsuccessfully for years to negotiate with the school district to lower the use fees. “They have to slash $27 million from their own budget next year,” notes Napper. “They’re not open to lowering the fees.”

The fees are only charged when the gym is used. With the withdrawal of the YMCA, the city will no longer be paying for custodian and utilities.

Many groups other than the YMCA use the gym. NorthCreek Church, Catholic Youth Organization sports, CV West Coast Eagles and a variety of league sports have scheduled time through the YMCA. After March 31, these groups will contract directly with the school district and pay the utility and custodial fees of several hundred dollars per event.

Clayton resident Sean Boyle, who coaches one of the parent-supported programs at the gym, is devastated at the news. He is hoping volunteers will step up and form a non-profit to fill the breach.

“We can’t let this happen. We have to take it over – $60,000 is nothing,” he says. “We can do that.”

Councilwoman Julie Pierce, who was instrumental in raising the money to build the gym in 2001, says: “I am as pained as anyone about this. But if this is the worst hit our community has to take with the current economic crisis, then we’re getting off better than most. The gym isn’t going anywhere and we still have the joint-use agreement with the district that we can implement … when we can afford it.”

It is expected that that the annual Easter Egg Hunt will go on as scheduled on March 28. See Upcoming Events (page 4) for more details.

Gym rental can be done online at mdusd.k12.ca.us; go to “Use Permit.” Or call Pat King at 827-7440, ext. 3804.