Culpeper Times • November 1-7, 2018

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➤ Center, from Page 4 Board of Supervisor, spoke out about the YMCA. He said Caroline County gifted the YMCA the land and building in the most densely populated area of Caroline and then haven’t had any interactions since with the organization. He warned Culpeper County residents to beware of the same pitfalls Caroline County faced. “We as a board made poor decisions,” Sili said. “They (the YMCA) didn’t have a sliding income scale for two years. I caution this agreement needs to be made public to county residents.” Jack Frazier, the Cedar Mountain District representative for the Culpeper County Board of Supervisors, listened to the presentations and then answered questions as a citizen from the public assembled. He was not acting as a member of the BOS and only he and East Fairfax supervisor

Steve Walker were in attendance at the meeting - both stressed they were there only as citizens and not members of the board of supervisors. On Tuesday, Committee for Improving Quality of Life in Culpeper spokesperson Ian Phillips filed an official complaint with Culpeper County Attorney Bobbi Jo Alexis that Frazier and Walker were presenting themselves as supervisors when they should not have been - violating the code of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Community concerns included the lack of public transportation to the proposed facility in the Catalpa District, with many agreeing that there is a public need for teenagers but showing concern about how to shuttle them to the proposed center and how that would affect public funding. Others, like Kurt Christensen of the Stevensburg District, pointed to the Culpeper County Library and how

it was all privately funded to be built and did not cost the county a penny. Clive Richmond, of the Salem District, asked Frazier and Walker “if you have so much of my money laying around, why don’t you give it back?” Christian Hines, also of the Salem District, asked if the project fails, who is on the hook? Frazier explained the county would own the building and if the YMCA would manage it and close it, the county would own the building and the land. Paul Bates, of the Catalpa District, said he wasn’t sure a YMCA is what the community needs. “We need to focus on the kids who are in need,” he said. Jim Howard, a member of the King George YMCA board and a Culpeper native, spoke about the values of the YMCA and how every second grader in King George receives swim lessons at the Y, explaining that the YMCA

fills needs that the community might not even realize. Marshall Keene, who helped organize the meeting, stressed that it was to be an open discussion with input from both sides to help inform the public. He said his opinion is one that is not for the project, but stressed everyone’s opinion needed to be heard. “With an indoor, Olympic-size competition pool being a cornerstone of the proposed Culpeper Family YMCA project, I don’t feel that it serves the majority of the families of Culpeper County who want a Recreational style pool to use in the summer months,” Keene said. “As a taxpayer, I do not think any government should force any individual to pay for something they will not use. Perhaps Culpeper County has a piece of property that they could assist a future association with a building site for both a competition and family style pool.”