Wayne Township May Take Ownership of the YMCA as Soon as November 1st of This Year

WAYNE, NJ – During last night’s township council meeting, three ordinances related to the purchase of the YMCA were on the docket, and all were approved unanimously. Mayor Chris Vergano spoke on the subject before the first of these ordinances came up for a vote, mentioning that “if all goes well,” the closing date could be as soon as November 1, 2024.

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If that holds true, come November 1st-ish, one day it will be the Wayne YMCA, and the very next day it will be the Wayne Community Center (or something like that – no official name has been chosen yet). Vergano promised it to be a “smooth transition,” and added that “we have no intention of closing the doors” once they purchase the property.

With these votes, plus the news the mayor shared, that the Metro YMCA has also approved the $12.2 million offer from the township, the deal moves into the next phase: due diligence.

“The contract that we're working on provides for the Township to have the opportunity to do a complete inspection of the facility and property,” said Vergano. “Over the next 60 days, that includes environmental, financial, integrity of the improvements. In the event the governing body is dissatisfied for any reason as to the result of the inspection, the governing body has the right to terminate the contract and there's no financial obligation .”

One area of concern is the staff at the YMCA. The executive staff are not guaranteed jobs in a township-run community center, but the rest of the staff, Vergano said, would keep their jobs.

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During the public comments portion of the ordinance, several residents and Y members came up to share their worries over the deal. One of those was Wayne Board of Ed President Don Pavlak, who spoke as a private citizen. He pointed out that there are obvious differences between an hourly or salaried job for a private company and one employed by a New Jersey municipal government.

“Government [employees] have unions, pensions and benefits,” he said. “If you have employees who work over a certain amount of time, you have to give them a pension and benefits. We say, ‘we’re going to keep everybody,” well, what happens when they have to become unionized?”

He also said that governments do “not have a great track record on taking over failing private businesses and turning them around.”

But Pavlak agreed that a center that provided senior programming would benefit Wayne. He called it “long overdue,” for seniors, whom Pavlak said had been “neglected for a long time,” going back to the time of Mayor Newt Miller.

The complexity of the YMCA programming, and the township’s ability to provide the same programming was raised as a concern by many of the public speakers. Current members of the Y who told the council and administration that they were worried that their programs at the Y would change or be canceled. But Vergano, in the wrap up at the end of the discussion, answered all of these concerns with one word: “Yes.”

“Daycare, the plays, preschool, summer camp, special needs classes and sliding scale? The answer is yes,” he said. “Our goal is to maintain and improve upon the programs that are there now.”

That night, Mayor Vergano answered many questions that were on residents’ minds and was thanked by many with the majority of the speakers saying positive remarks about the plan to take over they Y.

But this is a complex situation and a “massive undertaking.” Vergano clearly knows this, demonstrated by his conclusion.

“I know this is a bold adventure for all of us to take, but if we don't take this now, we're never going to get the opportunity again. And I think that's what you'll hear from the council members tonight in unity, that this is the correct way to proceed.”

He was right, all three ordinances received full council support by those council members who chose to speak backing the mayor’s plan for the township to purchase the YMCA.

Stay tuned for more coverage of the July 17 town council meeting.

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