Final decision made on new home for Next group

By Grace Lovins

Birmingham City Commissioners voted against placing a roughly $36.6 million bond proposal on the November ballot that would have asked residents to fund the construction of a new community and senior center at 400 E. Lincoln, the location of the YMCA that the city purchased two years ago for $2 million as the new home for the Next senior services group which contributed $500,000 toward total acquisition costs.

The decision made during the Monday, August 11, meeting came just one day before the county deadline for submitting ballot language.

The proposed project, a roughly 47,000 square foot facility for both Next senior services and the Birmingham YMCA, along with community use, was estimated to cost about $36 million with amenities including a pool, gym, walking track and community meeting rooms. The bond would have covered design, construction, furnishings and equipment with repayment spread out over 20 or 25 years at an estimated annual cost of between $169 to $192 for the average city taxpayer.

Months ago the commission voted to table discussions on the community and senior center after receiving cost estimates for the building and learning that promised earmark funding the city was depending on for the project had failed to materialize. Discussion on developing a community and senior center evolved from the search for Next’s new home and the YMCA saying it wanted to remain in Birmingham after they sold their existing facility to the city.

During a standing-room-only workshop held on the matter before the regular meeting, city manager Jana Ecker outlined three options for the property. According to Ecker, commissioners could continue down the path of constructing a new building and issue a bond or they could op to go with an alternate but unvetted plan, recently presented by the YMCA, which would include both renovating the current building with some new additions for about $27 million which would also require issuing a bond.

The third option would be to make upgrades to the current building under the existing memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the city and Next by using the funding from the previously approved senior millage, which was the original plan when the building was purchased from the YMCA. Originally the YMCA was to continue to occupy part of the building until spring of 2026 and leave Birmingham for a new facility planned for Royal Oak that fell through due to finances. Once discussion turned to a possible new building at the site, the YMCA announced that it wanted to be part of the new facility but had no funds to contribute to the construction. The change in the YMCA decision seemed to complicate the process of planning for shared occupancy by the two groups.

While commissioner Anthony Long and mayor pro tem Clinton Baller pushed to let voters decide on the bond even if they personally had concerns about the cost, a majority of the commissioners were reluctant to advance a bond vote with the rising construction costs, in part due to Trump administration imposition of world-wide tariffs and the loss of the expected earmark funding.

“I have grave concerns about putting this on the ballot as a flyer,” said mayor Therese Longe.

“I think that it will cause lots of people to do lots of unnecessary work and spend money. I think that it will be a distraction from proceeding with the MOU as a stepwise process the way we’ve talked about, and about looking at perhaps going back to the community in May or August with a smaller bond if we decide to bring this back…,” she continued.

Commissioner Andrew Haig supported moving forward with the lower cost MOU option, while commissioners Katie Schafer and Jason Emerine argued the current economic climate made the proposed larger project too big an ask of the taxpayers.

“I don’t think any one of us is compelled to ask the community to spend $38 million, or $27 million, on this project,” Schafer said.

Commissioner Brad Host, early in the meting, reminded fellow commissioners that he has always opposed the new building and would vote against the ballot issue.

At one point in the meeting, Baller proposed just changing the ballot wording for November to provide for a $20 million building but was informed by the city attorney that any new bond proposal must first go through a review by bond analysts and bond counsel, not a task that could be accomplished one day ahead of the deadline for putting something on the November ballot.

In the end, only Long and Baller supported putting the bond on the November ballot. The other five commissioners voted against the motion.

The city and Next will now proceed to implement the agreement at the time of the building purchase, making necessary modifications to the building as the new home for Next. The MOU also provided that the YMCA must vacate the building in May of 2026.