YMCA Proposed Managing Frieda Zamba Pool, But for $450,000 a Year on Top of $3 Million Ask. Palm Coast Declined.

As part of its plan to open a facility in Town Center, the Volusia-Flagler YMCA organization proposed to Palm Coast to take over the city’s aquatics center, formerly Frieda Zamba pool, on Oct. 1. The City Council today declined the offer, opting instead to partner with the YMCA to bring additional programs to the city’s pool and possibly split the revenue. 

The YMCA in talks with the city administration asked for an annual payment of  $450,000 if it were to take over its management. The city would have to continue paying $55,000 in maintenance and insurance. So the YMCA arrangement would cost the city slightly more than current operational costs. 

“We did meet with the YMCA staff, and it was determined that there would be no financial benefit to the city of Palm Coast to have the YMCA operate the Frieda Zamba swimming pool,” Parks and Recreation Director James Hirst said. “However, there was a discussion that we could work on some sort of partnership with the Y to kind of offer the unique programs that they can bring.”

When Chris Seilkop, CEO of the Volusia Flagler YMCA, and YMCA Board member John Walsh appeared before the City Council in April to talk about the new Y, the proposal to take over the city’s pool was not pitched with a cost. It was pitched as a huge saving to the city and a boon to the Y. “We’ve done a financial analysis on that, and I’d like the approval of the commission to continue talking to staff, because we think we can save you some money,” Seilkop had said.

Seilkop pitched it as a way for the Y to multiply its membership base and for the city to recoup the $3 million the Y was asking for, separately, as a cash contribution to help subsidize the Town Center facility. By not spending $500,000 a year on Frieda Zamba, the city would recoup the $3 million in six years, Seilkop told the council.

Council members were impressed. “This is a great alternative in terms of offloading some of that cost but still having the amenities available in a new, modern facility, rather than an aging one that we struggle to maintain,” Council member Ty Miller said at the time. Council member Charles Gambaro called it a “win-win.” It sounded to the council  like the city could start realizing its $500,000-a-year savings the moment the Y took over Frieda Zamba.

Not so fast.

What was not made clear during Seilkop’s presentation was the timing. Walsh today said that the Y would not immediately save city $500,000 by taking over Frieda Zamba. Rather, the city would realize that saving the moment the new Y would open, and Frieda Zamba would close. (“It’s very likely that we would” close Frieda Zamba when that happens, a city spokesperson said today.)

Walsh acknowledged that city staff and officials may have had a different interpretation–that the $500,000 saving would be part of the take-over deal. “That perception came up again in meetings with staff and city officials, but we made it clear we could not operate Frieda Zamba without a subsidy from the city,”
Walsh said.

In other words, Palm Coast would have to pay the Y to run the facility, and the payment made it more cost-prohibitive than if the city kept running it itself. Today’s presentation focused on what the city could gain from a more limited partnership with the Y at Frieda Zamba.

The Y offers group swimming lessons for children and adults, swimming meets, surf camps, Mermaid Camp (participants learn to swim and get to play in a mermaid tail), which Frieda Zamba once offered and would like to offer again, water-safety classes, scuba classes, lifeguard training and stroke-rehabilitation camps. 

The administration gave the council three options: the first is to continue as is. The city would operate the facility without changes. The second option is to partner with the YMCA, enabling several of the programs listed above to be offered at the pool, through a revenue-share approach. The third option is to have the YMCA take over, but without financial benefit to the city. 

The administration favors the second option. “If they’re using our facility, but it’s their staff, then maybe we could split the revenue, because it’s enhanced programming,” Interim City Manager Lauren Johnston said. “I’m sorry, they had me at mermaid class. I’ve got an almost four-year-old, and this is right up her alley.” Palm Coast’s pool is seasonal, closing during the cold months. The YMCA would offer an alternative during those months. 

Option two provides additional programming “without having to change anything,” Council member Ty Miller said. “So to me, option two looks like the right option.” The rest of the council agreed. 

The Y’s proposal was separate from its request for a $3 million contribution to help subsidize the $16 million facility it is planning on city-donated acreage along Town Center Boulevard. The Y made a request for an equal sum from the School Board. Palm Coast was receptive, since it thought it could get a benefit at the time, the School Board less so. 

The City Council on Aug. 12 heard a presentation from its administration on capital spending over the next five years. The $3 million contribution is part of that plan. It appears, somewhat as a misnomer, as a line item in the spending plan tagged “aquatics center,” with $2 million to be contributed in 2026 and $1 million in 2027. 

The aquatics center is Palm Coast’s Frieda Zamba pool, not the Y. Anyone reading the spending on the city’s chart–drawn from park development impact fees–would reasonably assume that it is money for the city’s pool–which can use the help. Council members do see the Y as a complement to its long-range aquatics plans, since the city could not afford to build one on its own, as it had hoped to do years ago. Partnering with the Y to run the existing aquatics center is part of that mix. But the word “partnership” appears to have changed definition between April and today.