Maine news, sports, weather from Waterville Morning Sentinel

WATERVILLE

Facility cuts 13 positions

By Amy Calder acalder@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer

WATERVILLE -- Layoffs at the Alfond Youth Center have risen to 13.

The positions include three full-time employees -- the chief operations officer, public relations director and aquatics director -- and 10 part-time workers.

The layoffs were necessary to help make up for a $300,000 budget shortfall and trim the center's budget from $2.71 million to $1.87 million for the upcoming year, according to Ken Walsh, the center's chief executive officer. The fiscal year is April through March.

"It's the hardest thing I've ever done in my life," Walsh said of the layoffs. "That was a very, very difficult day, and difficult for the board of directors. Their job is to look at the well-being of the Alfond Youth Center without trying to make much of an impact on programs."

Staff were notified earlier this month of the layoffs, Walsh said.

Chuck Karter, chief operations officer and the second in charge at Alfond, said he was shocked to learn he was being laid off. While he and others affected were told their jobs would end April 2, Karter chose to leave after the announcement.

"I'm certainly going to miss the people that I've known, in an arena I've been in for 21 years," Karter, of Fairfield, said this week. He declined further comment.

Karter's duties will now be handled by Walsh; Jim Delorie, the program director and athletic director; and Len LeGrand, the grants manager, Walsh said.

Aquatics director David Turnage, who also coaches the Mid-Maine Dolphin Swim Team, is being laid off after nearly 10 years.

Walsh said this week that center officials are now negotiating with Turnage to see if he will come back to teach classes.

Turnage's job now will be done by Walsh, Delorie and Lori Wing, assistant aquatics director, he said.

Walsh, who previously spent time fundraising and pursuing grants and other funds, is being pulled back into the organization to do in-house work.

"I'm heavily getting involved in programming," he said.

Four part-time kitchen workers are being laid off, but the cook will remain, he said. The serving will be done by counselors in the after-school program at the center, Walsh said.

He said one kitchen worker, who is 84 and was laid off, plans to come back and volunteer in the kitchen because she loves it so much.

"She wants to be here. She wants to still help."

A receptionist, preschool child care coordinator and some part-time after-school positions also will be cut.

Walsh said visitors to the center will see management officials, including Walsh and Delorie and the maintenance director, working at the front desk, answering phones and greeting people from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., as staff will do more cross-training and multi-tasking.

A part-time person who worked 9 a.m. to noon Monday through Thursday in the open gym pre-school program is being laid off, as well as a full-time worker. The New Balance Health coordinator will take on those responsibilities, according to Walsh. Part-time after-school program positions being cut forces the center's ratios of one instructor to every five children to be changed to one instructor for every seven or eight children, he said.

Walsh says he does not anticipate any more layoffs will occur.

"Absolutely not," he said. "I want to go through this one time. We did this once probably 10 years ago, in 2000. It was tough back then to kind of redirect our budget. That's one of the statements our board made to me: 'This is final. This is the direction we want to take.' This stabilizes the organization for the future."

Decreased revenues, tough economy

Decreased revenues from programs and fees prompted the layoffs, according to Walsh. He said that in this economy, people do not have the money they used to spend for birthday parties, swim lessons and other activities.

"At one time, programs were 60 percent of the overall budget. Now you're looking at about 35 percent of the budget. That's a major change."

The center made up the gap by using money from the endowment and grants, he said. The center also helps fill the gap by working with the parks and recreation center, Kennebec Valley Community College and Kennebec Valley Community Action Program to help run programs, fund teachers and share resources.

The Alfond Center, which comprises the Waterville Area Boys & Girls Club and YMCA, serves about 5,000 children. Until last year, the children in the after-school program attended free. There is now a sliding-scale fee, but no one is turned away, and scholarships are available, according to Walsh.

"It brought in some revenue dollars toward some programs that we didn't have before," he said.

The layoffs represent about $240,000 of the $300,000 shortfall. The center plans to make up the remaining $60,000 by cutting contracts, supplies and other expenses, Walsh said.

D. Gallant Management Associates of Portland worked with officials to determine how best to fill the shortfall; Walsh and Mike Levenseller, president of the Alfond Center's Board of Directors, said they think the layoffs, cuts and reorganization will solve the problem.

"We spent several days and countless hours weighing all the different solutions or avenues we could take to make this all work," Levenseller said. "We have the best hopes that it will work."

After layoffs, the center will employ 80 people, including about 20 full-time workers, Walsh said.

Revenues come from program fees, rented space, contracts, municipalities, United Way, fundraising, endowment and state and federal grants.

The $1.87 million budget for the year starting in April, according to Walsh, includes $420,000 from contributions; $61,000 in contracts; $635,000, programs; $77,000, memberships; $337,000 from the endowment (which is $7 million) interest; $139,000, rent; $170,000, grants; and $35,000, other income.

Public reaction

Joan Adams was heartbroken to learn Turnage was being laid off. Adams, the mother of three children, said her daughter went from saying she did not like to swim to loving it under Turnage's encouragement and guidance.

"You know how it is when you find that one person who can motivate your kids," Adams said.

The week after Turnage was notified of the layoff, he took the Mid-Maine Dolphins team to the state championship, where they took second. He was named coach of the year by other YMCA coaches at the event, Adams said.

She and Susanne Anich, also a parent of children who attend the Alfond Center, think Turnage is a valuable asset and should not have been let go. Anich said she thinks everyone was stunned to hear he was laid off.

"What is the message you send to children? That he's not worth what the children think he's worth?" Anich said.

She said Turnage is just the kind of role model parents want their kids to have and not having him around is a great loss.

"He's fabulous," Anich said. "David made it really fun and he truly loves children."

Adams, Anich and a friend went to the Alfond Center this week to meet with Walsh to talk about Turnage and about what they see as lack of services at the center.

"We were asking for this YMCA to be more than just a Boys & Girls Club -- to become a true community, family YMCA," Adams said. "(Walsh) basically said, 'This is what I'm here to do.'"

Adams said she told Walsh she would like to see aerobics, yoga and other programs for parents, as well as programs at the same time for their children.

Such adult programs would serve as an incentive for parents to buy family memberships, according to Anich.

"They really don't address families," she said. "There's no purpose in buying a family membership, because there's nothing for the parents to do."

Amy Calder -- 861-9247

acalder@centralmaine.com