School Board Stalls on YMCA Daycare Lease

North Canton City Schools chose not to move forward with a lease agreement that would have given the YMCA another 14 months at its home inside Charlotte building, which the district had talked about razing after the switch to all-day, everyday kindergarten.

School board members met inside the Media Center Wednesday night and tabled the agreement after citing concerns about losing money through the lease.

Board member Chris Thomas said the lease, as it stands, "is not a good business decision for the district."

The building at 200 Charlotte St. NW had housed the YMCA Daycare, the North Canton Heritage Society and North Canton Special Education offices. All but the daycare have .

"I have significant concerns about the contract, specifically with the utility costs," Thomas said. "The YMCA uses a lion's share of the facility. In the past the utilities were running as high as $101,000."

"I have concerns with renting this facility to them at $29,000 a year when our utilities (for the daycare) are going to be twice that."

District Treasurer Todd Tolson said the district invested $68,000 for utilities this year but said he feels confident utilities will not cost that much because natural gas prices are likely to drop.

YMCA Executive Director Ben Wheeler gave a presentation to Board members before they tabled the lease agreement. Wheeler said the YMCA has looked for other buildings to house the daycare, but hasn't found the right spot yet.

Gallina said district officials had talked of leveling the Charlotte building, retaining ownership and turning the area into a playground. organizers also have talked about turning the lot into a recreation area.

In other business: 

• The Board approved the renaming of the new Hoover High softball fields as the Hoover Softball Complex and the varsity softball field (field No. 3) the Goodpasture Field, for Coach Jerry Goodpasture.

• The Board moved through the night's agenda, with few issues. (Find the full agenda in the PDFs section of this update.)

• The Board set its next meeting for 6 p.m. July 12.