City Commission approves Addendum No. 3 to YMCA operating agreement

In a portion of the Ponca City Board of Commissioners’ meeting continued on Tuesday morning, the board approved Addendum No. 3 to the operating agreement with the Ponca City Aquatic and Family Center — YMCA.

Approval of this addendum allows the City of Ponca City to purchase the YMCA’s ownership interest in the aquatic portion of the facility at Grand Avenue and Waverly Street. The aquatic center construction costs were the YMCA’s financial contribution to the building.

The rest of the facility was funded through revenue bonds through the Ponca City Utililty Authority, which have been paid for  through a half-cent sales tax. Those bonds are expected to be paid off in about two years.

The YMCA operates the facility and has experienced financial difficulties. The YMCA’s Board of Directors is seeking a line of credit from Eastman National Bank to continue its operations and wants to put the aquatic ownership interest up as collateral.

Addendum No. 3 allows the ownership interest to be purchased by the City of Ponca City from the YMCA, with funding provided by PCUA. Therefore, in the event of a possible default on the loan with Eastman, the bank will receive the buyout funds to satisfy any outstanding debt.

Because Addendum No. 3 is a financing agreement, it requires a minimum two-thirds vote by the Board of Commissioners. Since the board has five members, four affirmative votes are required. However, Commissioner Shasta Scott had  to abstain from the vote because she is an employee of Eastman National Bank. Commissioner Lanita Chapman was absent from Monday night’s board meeting, which made it necessary to reconvene the board meeting Tuesday morning.

Tuesday’s vote was four votes in favor of the addendum, with Scott abstaining.

A companion measure was approved during the reconvened meeting of the Ponca City Utility Authority’s board of trustees Tuesday morning. The members of the Board of Commissioners are also the members of the PCUA Board of Trustees.

The PCUA board approved  the measure with four votes in favor of the addendum, with Scott abstaining.