Council authorizes five-year lease, approves interim YMCA administrative support for Moore Community Center

The City Council authorized the city manager to execute a five-year lease for the Moore Community Center and to finalize short-term rental pricing for both internal tenants and external users.

Roddy Erlenbach, director of parks, recreation and facilities, told the council staff moved the finance and occupancy calculations into a budget-style format, clarified cleaning and occupancy costs, and met with the YMCA and tenant organizations. He said the YMCA already generates short-term rental revenue at a level that can cover breakeven occupancy costs for short-term spaces and offered to continue administrative support for scheduling and billing on an interim basis. Matt Montgomery, CEO of the Downeast Family YMCA, confirmed the YMCA would be interested in maintaining administrative support for booking, billing and receiving external rental revenue for a negotiated percentage of short-term rental profits.

Tenant organizations present, including Friends in Action and ECMI, said they support the lease and appreciated the certainty and collaborative process. Friends in Action’s executive director, John Lindquist, said the organization had to adjust programming but supported the cooperative solution. ECMI’s executive director, Heidi Stanton Drew, said the organization is ready to move forward.

The lease sets occupancy-costs by square footage and limits year-over-year occupancy increases tied to operating actuals; staff will return with the precise short-term rental fee schedule and work with the YMCA on a memorandum of understanding if the council approves the lease. Council authorized the manager to execute the five-year lease and negotiate pricing details.