YMCA to add elevator this summer

Wednesday, May 28, 2003

Moving from the upper floor to the lower level at the Ed Thomas YMCA will become easier this fall, thanks to a new elevator.

By September, an elevator will be installed in the center of the McCook YMCA building.

The addition of an elevator will help a variety of YMCA patrons, as well as improve safety and security, according to Executive Director Mike Gonzales. "It will be a big benefit," he said.

The entrance on the main level will be directly across from the service desk with the doors opening to the east. On the lower level, the entrance will be at the south end of the hallway, with the doors opening to the west.

This location was chosen for a variety of reasons, primarily because the space was not in use. The central location on the upper floor is part of the lobby on one side of the wall and a play area on the other side.

Convenience also was a factor. While a location on the outside of the building was considered, "we didn't want users to have to walk across the track to use the elevator," Gonzales said. "Then we also have no control."

And with the number of kids in and out of the YMCA every day, workers at the service desk will be able to easily monitor elevator users.

Previously, those who had problems maneuvering the YMCA's steps used a back, unmanned entrance.

Senior citizens had been known to use the exercise equipment upstairs, walk out to their vehicles, drive around back and enter the back doors to use the lower-level locker rooms. The seniors will not be the only ones to benefit from the elevator. Gonzales also cited that Special Olympics participants, who have unloaded from their vans at the front door, only to load back up and drive around to the back doors when they realized they couldn't get downstairs to the locker rooms and the pool.

Use of the back door posed two problems. First, use of this door left YMCA staff with a lack of control over who entered the building. To help alleviate the problem, the YMCA installed security cameras, which are monitored at the main desk.

Second, the high number of cars parked directly outside the back doors limited accessibility to emergency vehicles. With more than a dozen vehicles parked outside the door, emergency services just couldn't get close to the building, Gonzales said.

"Everyone will now use the front-door," Gonzales said. The YMCA board of directors approved the installation last month, but the organization has been working on the project for more than a year. The elevator project has been more than a year in the making because of the numbers. The original price tag was $83,000. But when bids were let last spring, the lowest received was $133,000. The board, administration and architects hadn't anticipated the high labor costs associated with the project, as well as paying for an out-of-town construction firm. "Because of elevator's location in the middle of the building, it's a very labor intensive project," Gonzales said. "You can't get the machinery to the site. Workers will have to haul out the dirt and concrete bucket by bucket." Construction crews also will be digging down 17 feet, by hand, and removing that dirt, by hand. To maintain the current walls in the building, crews also will be required to shore up the side walls as they dig down -- more manual labor.

Although the YMCA administration had already committed $75,000, the YMCA was able to cover most of the remaining costs through a $50,000 grant from the Peter Kiewit Foundation. The original $75,000, plus the remaining $9,000, will be funded through interest from the Myatt and Mary Volentine and Frank Murray estates. "The project is not costing members anything, but is rather financed through gifts from large estates and the generosity of the Kiewit Foundation." Even with the $50,000 difference, Gonzales said he proud of his staff and board for not just dropping the project. McCook Contracting began work on the elevator Wednesday and has installed dust barriers also the north side of the lobby. YMCA users will be only slightly affected by the work, Gonzales said. The northern doors at the main entrance will be limited to construction crews, the walking track will be narrowed sightly at the southwest corner and parents -- you won't be able to sit upstairs and watch you kids during swim lessons. But the windows on the east and west of the pool will still be accessible. Gonzales anticipates that the new elevator will help not only current YMCA users, but will also draw back patrons who have avoided the building because of the stairs.

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