Still waiting for answers

It’s been several weeks since questions surfaced about the Community YMCA of Red Bank’s handling of state funds earmarked for a skateboard park, and still no answers are forthcoming from the Y.

In fact, despite repeated attempts to reach its president, Richard Pollock, over the past few weeks, the Y has remained silent.

Now, Red Bank Councilman Pasquale Menna has added his voice to those asking for answers.

Menna has asked Assemblyman Michael Panter of the 12th District to look into how the YMCA used a $75,000 grant received from the N.J. Department of Community Affairs in 2001 to help fund construction of a skate park on the grounds of its facility on Maple Avenue.

In a letter to Panter, the councilman said his constituents aren’t buying the Y’s explanation that the funds were used up by the planning and design phase of the project, which never came to fruition. He also chided the DCA for a lack of oversight of the project, which it apparently envisioned as more than a physical facility for borough youth.

Councilman John Curley and resident Albert Larotunda previously petitioned Panter to look into the Y’s use of the funds for the park, which was approved by the Borough Zoning Board of Adjustment.

Thus far, Pollock, has said only that the cost of building the skate park escalated from $250,000 to $400,000, putting it out of reach. He has not documented how the grant was spent and the Y’s financial statement for 2002 accounts for only $61,000 spent of the state funding.

He has not returned phone calls seeking comment on Menna’s letter.

Putting aside the fact that the Y didn’t level with the community, the explanation is hard to swallow in light of the Y’s allocation of funds to other projects

According to its 2003 annual report, the Y committed a whopping $1.8 million to renovating the Children’s Cultural Center, which merged with the Y to become a branch. In return for the deed to the borough’s first town hall, the YMCA agreed to restore the exterior and interior of the historic building “for no less than $800,000” the year-end 2002 statement noted.

At the same time, the Y assumed $129,000 in assets when it merged with the Count Basie Learning Center, which became a branch as well. At least both branches will benefit area children.

More puzzling, in light of the Y’s failure to honor its commitment to Red Bank, is the news that the Y is in the middle of a capital campaign to raise $8 million to build a new facility in Peter A. Mannino Park in Old Bridge Township in Middlesex County. The Community YMCA is planning to build a 50,000-square-foot facility there that will include two indoor pools and an aquatic center.

Panter said this week that he doesn’t see evidence of mishandling of the funds, but he owes constituents more than a vague response; he owes them an inquiry into the Y’s use of the funds and the DCA’s apparent lack of oversight.

Menna wants answers from the YMCA and the DCA — and more.

He suggests that in light of the YMCA’s lack of action on the project, the DCA should ask for return of the grant “since it was not used and may never be used for its intended purpose.”