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Board struggles with mounting Wellness Center deficit
By Jordan Cohen
NILES
Meeting for the first time in nearly two years, the advisory board of the city’s Wellness Center heard the bad news about the facility’s finances: It is drowning in red ink.
“The deficit keeps rising, and the business model has to change,” said city Auditor Giovanne Merlo. “Last year, the deficit was $180,000.”
Scott MacMillan, the center’s athletic director, said the advisory board had not conducted an official meeting since 2014 because it could not get enough members to attend. No one offered an explanation why it took so long to get a quorum.
“We need to be focused on the survival of this facility,” MacMillan said.
MacMillan had been full-time director until seven months ago when he was reduced to part-time. That was a requirement in the city’s financial recovery plan from fiscal emergency that was projected to save the city $50,000 yearly. The reduction, implemented by then-Mayor Ralph Infante for whom the center is named, left the position vacant with limited responsibilities to MacMillan and two other city officials.
“We can’t have this place managed by three people,” said Robert Marino, council president, who sits on the advisory board.
“There needs to be someone at the top steering this ship,” said Councilman Ryan McNaughton, D-at large, who attended the meeting. “I believe this building is too big to fail.”
The board is considering restoring the full-time position and interviewing applicants including MacMillan. Such a move, however, would have to be approved by city council and the deficit commission that oversees city spending because it would mean another change to the recovery plan. The city also would have to find a way to fund it.
MacMillan suggested two measures that he believes could result in significant savings. One is to close during daytime hours yet open in evenings after 5 from May to October because, he said, there is no revenue-generating activity. He projected the move would save $28,000.
“May to October is broke,” he said.
MacMillan plans to send out emails and post messages on the center’s website to get feedback from its 1,191 paying members.
The decision will have to be made under a tight timeline. The board plans to schedule another meeting later this month to vote on the proposals.
Acting on another MacMillan suggestion to reduce costs, the board voted unanimously to request bids for temporary labor contracts. A Niles company, Corptemps, has held the contract, which was never put out for bids initially by the Infante administration when the center opened, according to Marino and MacMillan.
Mayor Thomas Scarnecchia, who also sits on the board, called for other plan items to be pursued including selling the building’s naming rights for $50,000.
“We have to look ahead to make money – and I don’t mean selling candy bars,” the mayor said.
The mayor said he wondered whether Infante’s name should be removed from the center, but Marino called his suggestion “inappropriate.” Infante is the subject of a criminal investigation by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the state auditor and the FBI. No one on the board spoke up to agree with Scarnecchia.
A needs assessment plan for the center is to be submitted to the board at the next meeting. Merlo also expects to have a projection of the size of the deficit, which he indicated will be sizable.
“Nothing has changed,” the auditor said.