Council Charts Two Courses for Ricketts Future

Photos by Evan Brandt

Pottstown Borough Council agreed on a course to keep the Ricketts Community Center open until the end of the year, and to pursue two possible options for the year to come, Wednesday night.

The decisions were made necessary by last week's surprise about face by the Olivet Boys and Girls Club that, after securing a lease to operate the center for another four years, announced instead it would walk away.

The decision, after months of negotiations with the borough, left council in the lurch, needing to decide immediately how to keep the center open until the end of the year, when Olivet's current lease expires, and what plans to make for its future operation.

A crowd filters into the council room for Wednesday night's

meeting on the future of the Ricketts Center.

First things first, council agreed on a loosely outlined plan to allow Olivet to continue to "operate" the
center, although it will not offer any fall programming.

The programming will be undertaken by three primary volunteer non-profit groups -- the STRIVE Initiative, which had made its own proposal to run the center; Hobart's Run, the Hill School's neighborhood development arm; and YWCA Tri-County Area, which made a late-in-the-day proposal to run the center.

Borough Manager Justin Keller said he had been in contract with Olivet officials and they have committed to continue to operate the center through the end of the year, and to work cooperatively with whatever groups or agencies come in to provide programming, provided those people have FBI and child abuse background checks.

There was some confusion, and some distrust, about what Olivet will do going forward.

The dedication plaque outside the Ricketts Center.

"Can they even be trusted, given that they walked away after getting a new lease?" asked Councilwoman Rita Paez.

"Olivet can't be trusted," said Everett Debnam, speaking as vice president of the Pottstown chapter of the NAACP. "Get rid of them, we don't need them to turn a key."

But it was pointed out that by allowing Olivet to "run out the year," as Keller phrased it, they are bound by the terms of the lease to continue to pay utilities at the center.

Also, having them there will put responsibility for undertaking background checks on Olivet, rather than the borough, said Parks and Recreation Director Michael Lenhart.

Keller assured the audience of about 30 people that he had a "lengthy and pointed discussion with Olivet about fulfilling their obligations under the current contract."

Ricketts volunteer Hannah Davis also suggested the borough ensure that it gets a partial refund from Olivet since it is not offering fall programming, something Keller said "they are open to." She also suggested ensuring all the grant funding Olivet obtained that was allocated to Pottstown, be provided to the borough.

What happens in January?

The longer-term question for council and the community is what comes next.

After spending months on securing a new lease with Olivet, Pottstown now faces the prospect of coming up with something else in just  a few weeks.

Keller said the borough has issued a "request for qualifications" from anyone interested in running the center, noting the borough already has a proposal from the YWCA and STRIVE.

Twila Fisher, who heads up the Hobart's Run organization, said

it will do whatever it is asked to do to help the center stay open.

Anyone else who wants to apply, must do so by Aug. 30. Council will interview all those who applied on Sept. 4, starting at 5:30 with a possible vote on Sept. 9.

"We don't have to time to wait. If they're interested, they will already be tuned in to what's going on here," Keller said.

But there is also another option, said Justin Valentine, a former Pottsgrove School Board President and the pastor of Kingdom Life Church in Pottstown.

He earned applause from the crowd when he said "the model council has put forward is to keep the same model we've had for 10 years, to lease the center out. The community is not looking to continue that model, we do not want to keep the lease/tenant mentality," he said.

Rather, "we want to work with borough oversight and collaborate with the community to operate the center," which is what STRIVE's purpose has been all along, said David Charles, one of STRIVE's principals.

"STRIVE's proposal was made because we did not have time to get together with community and discuss what we want to do," Charles said. "Our proposal is to open communications and work with the community, possibly create a separate entity and board eventually to run the center."

There was some resistance from borough staff to the idea of having the center overseen and run by the borough.

"Where will we get the money?" asked Finance Director Janice Lee. Council President Dan Weand pointed out that the borough's tax base was healthier 10 years ago than it is now.

Coluncilman Joe Kirkland said the borough's contribution toward the center's operation 10 years ago was higher and it was a mistake to scale it back over the years.

Kirkland, who represents the Seventh Ward where the center is located said previously he thinks the borough should take over running the center.

"We'll figure it out," he said.

Parks and Recreation Director Michael Lenhart

addresses borough council Wednsday night.

Turns out Lenhart already has part of it figured out.

He told council he had put together a budget and outlined for running the center, should council
decide to go that way, in preparation for last night's meeting.

He said early estimates indicate it would cost the borough between $195,000 to $200,000 to operate the center, including hiring a full-time center director for a salary of $38,500.

Adding the borough's annual contribution of $40,000 to the money currently provided by other funders would still leave the budget short by $50,000, he said.

The budget information "will evolve," Lenhart said, "and I wouldn't expect that number to go down."

He said he would propose "starting moderately," to make sure the borough could fulfill its obligations, and then grow programs with the help of partners.

"If the decision is to go with the borough, we can all go home now and let staff figure it out," said Keller. "Why can't we do both?" Weand responded. "I think that's a wise option," said Lenhart.

And so that is what council decided. Lenhart will continue to work on what borough operation would look like, and meet with potential partners to explore options, while council will also hear from all those who submit proposals to run the center on a lease basis.

Longtime resident Robert Brown addresses Council Wednesday.

Weand then tried to end the meeting without hearing from the public, saying a planning commission meeting was starting in 10 minutes, but he was over-ruled.

Robert Brown was the first speaker. He said council should "focus on the community and what the community wants. Our kids are the future and if we don't make them a priority, they will become a liability," he said to applause.

Charles said STRIVE's proposal "is a highly collaborative and democratic model that reflects the voice and the desires of the community which it serves."

Here is some video of his comments:

"In the future, STRIVE will solicit the input of the community to gauge whether the community feels the center should be operated under STRIVE, or whether a new entity should be formed solely functioning to operate the center," said Charles.

There will be another meeting about the center's future tonight at 6 p.m. at the center itself, 658 Beech St., when Hobart's Run will present its plans for the area around the center and also host a discussion about what the community wants for its future.

I will cover that at least until 7 p.m., when the Pottstown School Board will meet and vote on a new teacher contract.

Until then, here are the Tweets from last night's meeting:

Envisioning a Future for the Ricketts Center