In front of a packed auditorium Tuesday night, city commissioners granted the Manhattan Day Care & Learning Center immediate access to its 2009 Social Services Advisory Board allocation worth $65,000, helping the center keep its doors open through what it referred to as a "critical time."
The measure, which passed in a 5-0 vote, came in response to MDCLC's announcement last week that the center would have to close its doors unless the city would allow use of next year's SSAB funds to cover operating costs at least through the end of the year.
"We understand that this is just a Band-aide, a short-term solution," said Steve Shields, a volunteer board member for Manhattan Day Care. "But I think that if we can keep this open through the next 16-18 months, then we will be able to grow and create a day care that is of sufficient size to compete in today's market."
According to documents prepared for Tuesday's legislative meeting, the center's current financial problems stem from a "combination of labor and economic conditions" and a series of challenges it has faced in trying to maintain its current operation while planning for a "much-needed" expansion.
Yet, despite raising their enrollment fees five times over the past three years, MDCLC's board chair Jeff Rosenow admitted last week that the long-standing day care facility has "come to a crossroads" and can no longer sustain itself without city help.
"We realize that it is going to be a lot of work,'' Rosenow told commissioners, ''but there is no way we can provide a sustainable future without some significant input from the community."
Multiple families also came forward Tuesday night and told the commission about how difficult it was to find a reputable day care facility in the Manhattan area. Many community members also spoke about the importance of keeping the 40-year-old learning center open for families in need.
"The whole community, not just those with children, needs to be concerned about the lack of affordable child care in the area," said Lee Taylor, speaking on behalf of the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation. "Manhattan is a great place to live, to work and to grow up in, but we have to provide for those who need a helping hand... it has to be community effort."
Commissioners raised concern about the center's long-term viability and asked Rosenow to provide the city with MDCLC's recent finance reports, as well as a long-term plan for sustaining operations.
The center's director said the advance will — at the very least — allow the center to continue operations through December. He termed the commission's support a "signal to the rest of the community" about the city's faith in MDCLC as a whole.
Also at Tuesday's legislative session, commissioners agreed 5-0 to begin design build proposals for the City Park Pool and Spray Park projects.
According to Curt Loupe, director of Parks and Recreation, the spray park — or splash pad — would be built next to the new City Park playground. If all goes according to plan, construction would begin in March and be completed by this summer. Financing would come from the $300,000 originally budgeted in the Capital Improvement Reserve Fund for the replacement of City Park's north end pool wall following the 2008 swim season.
Projected construction of the City Park pool is currently scheduled to begin in April with a completion date of summer 2010. Although the budget for this project has not been finalized, city officials estimate that the total cost will be around $7.5 million and financed by either general obligation bonds or a sales tax.
Commissioners also failed several times to agree on wording of a charter ordinance establishing the number of candidates necessary to hold a city primary election. Because they could not agree, the city will default to the new state statute.
Based on that statute, passed during the end of the Kansas Legislature's 2008 session, the number of candidates necessary to hold a primary election will be increased from more than two candidates per seat available to more than three candidates per seat available. That means a primary will be held only if 10 or more candidates run for the three available city commission seats.
The discussion at Tuesday's meeting centered on whether the commission wanted to uphold the state's statute or create their own ordinance and either re-establish the number of candidates necessary to hold a primary election at seven, or assign a new number.
"If you go up to nine (candidates needed to hold a primary), then, in effect, you dilute the vote because it would require a lesser percentage of the vote to get elected," commissioner Jim Sherow argued. "A smaller number may represent the larger community's will than a bigger number would." Sherow also said he felt fundraising efforts for more candidates would outweigh the cost-savings of not holding a primary election, typically estimated between $20,000-$25,000.
Commissioner Bruce Snead agreed and said the commission should "err on the side of citizen representation.
"If we're going to spend $20,000 to have greater representation, I don't think that's so bad," Snead said.