Boro looks at cost of community center
RFPs will provide info on funding boro youth center
BY SHARON LEFF Staff Writer

The Count Basie Learning Center building may become a community center.

Red Bank is accepting requests for proposals (RFPs) from nonprofits or others interested in managing a community center in Red Bank after Mayor Pasquale Menna gave the go-ahead at the Sept. 22 council meeting.

The proposed center would be located at 136 Drs. James Parker Blvd. on the corner of Bridge Avenue.

"The only way we're going to find out what this is going to cost is if we actually get legitimate … proposals," Menna said. "Again, we are not going to be stuck to those proposals or necessarily to the implementation. All this does is the ongoing homework."

Councilman Michael DuPont, a member of the Borough Council's community center committee, said at the meeting that the group has been meeting for the last six months to determine whether Red Bank needs a center, and if so, what format it should take.

DuPont said the program would include a social area, tutoring, computer technology, college preparation, fine arts, drama, arts and crafts, aerobics, a quiet area for reading and studying, television and space for karaoke among other things.

He said Parks and Recreation Director Bob Evans helped calculate the cost of the borough's running the center versus finding an outside partner. He said that according to Evans' findings, the center would cost the borough about $95,000 a year.

DuPont said after the meeting that possible vendors could include the Boys and Girls Club and the YMCA.

"We have to think about how we fund the community center and we have to think outside the box," DuPont said after the meeting.

He advocated the authorization of the RFPs in order to give the council more information before a decision is made.

"What we've done is, we've developed a blueprint saying, 'This is what a community center program here would look like,' and we'd like to offer it to the various vendors and say, 'How much would it cost,' so the mayor and the council can then make a determination as to what they want to pay for it," DuPont said after the meeting.

According to the expense overview from Evans, the building fees will only be assessed if the community center is leased to a private entity.

Costs would include: one maintenance person at $7,800 a year; utilities at $12,000; four part-time employee salaries for a total of $62,400 a year and miscellaneous items at $10,000 a year. There would also be a $25,000 start-up fee, bringing the first year's total to $117,200.

According to the community center business plan, the Parks and Recreation department would have to move its offices to the center in order to have a presence.

Possible furnishings include computers, televisions, a DVD player, a pool table, cooking appliances, sports equipment and a sound system. The report states that the walls would need to be repainted and the floors would need to be redone.

Proposed programs include teen late nights, sleepovers, outreach programs, art clubs, holiday and birthday activities, and sports activities among other things.

The proposed hours of operation would be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. during the week and would include morning preschool programs and any adult programs. After-school and evening programs would be held Monday through Thursday from 3 to 7 p.m. On Friday and Saturday the center would be open from noon to 9 p.m.; on Sundays it would be open until 6 p.m. during the school year.

Evans said in an interview last week that he helped the committee put together cost projections for the borough and has experience with community centers after helping to establish one in Highland Park.

"[A community center] gives the kids a place of their own. A lot of kids in the past I've talked to go back to school at night to have things to do," Evans said. "It would be their own spot to be able to go to. There's a lot of peer pressure for these kids, [and this would] give them a sense of a spot they can go to, be themselves and hang out with their friends."

Evans said the RFPs would be coming back Oct. 29.

DuPont said the mayor commissioned the committee at the beginning of the year.

"It would be a great resource for our children, the next generation. If you look at the business plan, the community center provides computer skills, a study hall [for] good study habits, adult supervision; there would be social skill interaction," DuPont said after the meeting. "I grew up in a community center and I learned a lot … social interaction, the arts. I think it would be a good opportunity for the kids. It would be a safe haven for them."

The idea for the community center began last year, led by Red Bank resident David Prown, who had advocated for the borough-owned Count Basie Learning Center building as a location for a community center.

Despite support for the center, the borough went ahead with plans to sell the building on the borough's west side in August 2007 at a minimum bid of $800,000, but no bids were received.

Former Councilman John Curley held two public meetings to foster dialogue about a community center. The possibility of partnering with a local nonprofit was also discussed. A committee was formed to investigate the feasibility of a community center.