City, YMCA will combine efforts for Moochie Turk Summer Youth Camp

The Gonzales YMCA Program Center and City of Gonzales will enter into an agreement for the YMCA to operate the Moochie Turk Summer Youth Camp program this year, with the city agreeing to pay $12,000 to the Gonzales YMCA to help offset the cost.

Council members voted 4-1 on Thursday, April 17, to authorize City Manager Tim Crow to negotiate and execute a Community Services Grant Funding Agreement with the YMCA. Crow said he and Parks Director Ralph Camarillo had already met with YMCA director Lauren Harris to iron out everything but what the city will give in funding.

“(The Gonzales YMCA) assured me that no children will be turned away,” Crow told the council. “I look at their programs and they are much more robust than what we're able to provide in our camp, and their camp is the extent of the summer, so I feel pretty confident we should try this this year and see how it goes.

“The only thing that that I didn't know what to put in the agreement was the amount. One suggestion that came from (Harris) was that the money for the scholarship for a child to be enrolled would be paid on a reimbursement basis. In other words, that if they have six scholarships that they have given out, they would submit that to the city for reimbursement for those children.”

The city had budgeted $21,602.00 for summer recreation in the 2024-25 fiscal budget. In 2023-24, the city spent $13,800 for summer recreation, of which $2,500 went to the YMCA as a donation last year to help with their program while the rest was spent to operate the Moochie Turk program.

District 3 Councilmember Lorenzo Hernandez, who voted against the agreement, told Crow he didn’t recall at the council’s last workshop “giving instruction for you and the parks director to meet with (the YMCA).”

“I recall us having a second workshop that I was planning on,” Hernandez said. “It was a surprise to me to see this on the agenda, and it looks like it kind of got done, I'm gonna say, behind our backs, because I was expecting the next workshop.”

Hernandez said he spoke to 10 families during the past week and “every one of them told me that if we move it over to the Y, they won’t participate, period.”

“I don't know the reasons, but they said they went through the program with the city,” Hernandez added. “Their kids went through the program with the city, and now they got grandkids going through the program, and they like that, regardless of whether it's a half a day and it offers what little it offers — that's what they want.”

District 4 Councilmember Ronda Miller said she also thought a second workshop would be held between the city and the Gonzales YMCA. She said she favors that the city offers the program “for free.”

“I want to partner with the Y, but I also want to make sure that the children aren't being left out,” Miller said.

Crow said the YMCA has assured him that $21,602 would cover tuition for about 99 to 100 children if they are unable to pay for their program, which cost about $110 per month per child. Last year, only 50 children took part in the city’s Moochie Turk Summer Youth Camp, Crow added.

District 2 Councilmember Mariah Jordan said the YMCA told the city at their workshop earlier in the year that “whatever the city was able to give, whatever that amount was, that they would make it work.”

“The majority of those children last summer did not even pay,” Jordan said. “I don't believe it's more of ‘no one wants to attend the YMCA’ or ‘they don't want to disclose their finances.’ That is totally fine. However, when we speak about a number and we speak about a price, you can't put a price on your child.”

Jordan said the hours of the YMCA camp — 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. — are a lot better than what the city was offering with a camp that was just from 8 a.m. to noon.

“I'm grateful that we were able to do eight to 12 and it was free. That's awesome,” Jordan said. “But when parents, the working class, have to get off or try to move around from Whataburger or McDonald's, they can't because that's their most busy time.

“We just have to be mindful that this program is here to benefit the children overall. It's not about any of us, but the children. How can we give them more?”

Jordan added that she paid for her own children to go to the YMCA program last year and will again this year. She said that any parent who wants their children to attend the YMCA can do so since the city will help fund it, but if they don’t want to go there for some reason, there are other options out there if they are willing to pay for them.

Crow said the city was still seeking applications for staff for a city-run Moochie Turk program in case the agreement with the YMCA did not work out.

Jordan said she believes going with the YMCA “takes the liability off of the city.”

“We speak about safety, we speak about somebody that's been working with children such as the YMCA, instead of constantly hiring high school students, that’s no problem, but you need supervision. Nobody wants to drop their children off with kids in the heat of the day,” Jordan added.

Mayor Steve Sucher said he interviewed some of the parents coming to pick up kids from the city’s summer program last year and told Hernandez “I got some of the same feedback that you got from your constituents>”

“I'm sympathetic and empathetic,” Sucher said. “However, having said that, you know, last year, we got hung up trying to figure out who was going to do what and when, and we got caught in a bind and I think it hurt us last summer getting started.”

District 1 Councilmember Joseph Poochy Kridler said he believes the city should try the YMCA program this year to see how it works.

“If we have to go back with ours next year, then we go back with ours,” Kridler said. “I feel like, and this is just my opinion, the YMCA offers more and it's all day. You don't have to worry about picking your kid up at lunch. You can pick them up later in the afternoon and it is in a secure location. Let’s give it a go and just see how it goes.”

Miller abstained from voting to give Crow the authority to negotiate with the YMCA, while Hernandez voted against it. However, Sucher, Kridler and Jordan all voted in the affirmative, passing the motion.

A second motion to determine how much to give the YMCA had more difficulty finding footing. At first, Miller made a motion to give $10,500, but it failed for lack of a second. A motion by Kridler and seconded by Jordan to give the full $21,062 to the YMCA was voted down, 3-2, with Sucher, Hernandez and Miller voting against it.

Finally, Miller made a motion to give $12,000 instead to the YMCA and got Sucher, Kridler and Jordan on board with that for four affirmative votes, with only Hernandez voting against.