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• May 25, 2016
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Scenes from Canyon Ridge’s Graduation • A5
Twin Falls Y in Dire Straits Mismanagement, falsified financials and a ‘lack of transparency at all levels’ JULIE WOOTTON jwootton@magicvalley.com
DREW NASH, TIMES-NEWS FILE PHOTO
Lifeguard Samantha Walker dumps plastic eggs into the YMCA/Twin Falls City Pool for the annual Easter Egg Dive in March 2013.
Jerome Eying More Housing Downtown
TWIN FALLS • The YMCA of Twin Falls is on probation with its national parent organization after it uncovered widespread mismanagement, misappropriation of nearly $700,000 in donations and failure to complete routine audits. The nonprofit organization’s local board asked for help when it realized then-chief executive officer
Gary Ettenger was “providing false financial information to them,” according to a February assessment conducted by the national YMCA. Ettenger stepped down in March. If problems aren’t addressed, the organization is at risk of losing its charter with the national YMCA organization and its nonprofit status, affecting about 7,000 Magic Valley residents and three locations. It owns gyms on Elizabeth Street and Pole Line Road, and
manages the YMCA/Twin Falls City Pool on Locust Street under a contract with the city. “This is a serious situation,” Laura Mahan, a Meridian-based resource director for the YMCA of the USA, wrote in a frank February letter to board members. “These, along with several other issues, are a growing concern for your organization’s ability to thrive.” Please see YMCA, A3
Planning to Succeed
NATHAN BROWN
nbrown@magicvalley.com
JEROME • New apartments could be coming to Jerome. The city of and Jerome’s Urban Renewal Agency are trying to lure a developer to build apartments on a city-owned piece of land just outside of downtown. The City Council voted last week to enter into an agreement saying the URA will develop and solicit proposals to build highdensity apartments at the site of the former Central Elementary School’s football field. “We’re excited to see what kind of response we get,” City Administrator Mike Williams said. The Urban Renewal Agency still needs to vote on the request for proposals, which it is expected to do at its meeting next week. Then, interested developers can start submitting. The lack of affordable housing options for people who aren’t looking to buy a house is a frequent complaint from some of Jerome’s major employers, Williams said. Whether the city would sell the land or give it away as an incentive for a developer, Williams said, would depend on the project cost and on how much tax money it could generate down the road. Please see JEROME, A4
Blaine Co. Votes Down Federal Land Transfer NATHAN BROWN
DREW NASH, TIMES-NEWS
Magic Valley High School senior Cassidy Neaderhiser, 18, holds one of her 3D watercolor paintings for a portrait Friday in Twin Falls.
Former High School Dropout Dreams of Becoming a Teacher JULIE WOOTTON
nbrown@magicvalley.com
HAILEY • Blaine County commissioners have voted to oppose the sale or transfer of federally owned public lands either to the state or to local governments. “We want that message to be crystal clear,” said county Commissioner Larry Schoen, in a statement from the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. “Stakeholder groups in Blaine County have worked collaboratively, openly, and productively Schoen with the federal agencies for years on a range of issues to protect these resources and improve public access, management, and outcomes.” About 62 percent of the land in Idaho, and 78 percent of the land in Blaine County, is owned by the federal government. The statement quoted Schoen saying the Monday resolution “highlights the value of public lands to county residents and supports every American’s ability to hunt, fish and benefit from a public lands system that is the envy of the world.” Please see BLAINE, A4
If You Do One Thing: Jerome Recreation District will offer free swimming from 1 to 4 p.m. at 2032 S. Lincoln Ave. in Jerome.
jwootton@magicvalley.com
TWIN FALLS • Three years after dropping out of high school, Cassidy Neaderhiser is earning her diploma and wants to go into an unlikely career: teaching. “I never thought I’d want to do anything with being a teacher,” the 18-year-old said. But now, she wants to become an art teacher to help others find their own talents and abilities. She’s among 88 Magic Valley High students who will graduate Wednesday. After dropping out of school as a sophomore, she came to Magic Valley High School, an alternative school in Twin Falls, to catch up. It was a long road to earn her diploma, she said. “I just had a bad past of not going to school,” Neaderhiser said. Although her mother didn’t push her to attend, she decided she needed to return to high school. It was her grandfather who pushed her to be more independent and take charge of her future. When Neaderhiser started at Magic Valley High, she had only two class credits. That left dozens more she’d have to
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Magic Valley High Graduation When: 7 p.m. Wednesday Where: College of Southern Idaho Fine Arts Building, 315 Falls Ave. How Many Graduates: 88 complete in order to graduate. “She came as a junior needing pretty much everything,” school counselor Amy Rothweiler said. At first, Neaderhiser’s focus was on only graduating, not making friends. “I was nervous every day,” she said, and didn’t socialize much with her classmates. But over the years, that’s changed. Before arriving at Magic Valley High, “she felt on the fray at school,” Rothweiler said. But at Magic Valley High, she got involved in school activities. “I think kind of getting involved helped her feel connected,” Rothweiler said. One of Neaderhiser’s best high school memories: working with Rothweiler to figure out how she’d graduate. She wouldn’t
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be able to graduate with her class last year, but is earning a diploma Wednesday. The one-on-one help from teachers at Magic Valley High, she said, made the difference in catching up. Rothweiler described the teenager as “very driven, motivated, smart and capable.” Neaderhiser works part-time at Once Upon a Child in Twin Falls to support herself and she lives with her boyfriend. A flexible work schedule and wonderful manager allowed her to work and go to school, she said. In addition to in-person classes, Neaderhiser took night classes, went to summer school, completed PLATO online credit recovery classes and did independent study classes. As of Friday, she was still working on her final four credits. Her goal was to get it done over the weekend so she wouldn’t have to attend summer school. “School had not been good for her prior to coming to us,” Rothweiler said. But Neaderhiser was determined to graduate. At the beginning of this school year, “She told me, ‘I can do this. I just need to have a plan,’” Rothweiler said. “I commend her for her determination.”
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Wednesday, May 25, 2016 • A3
YMCA Continued from A1
The documents, obtained by the Times-News, show the Twin Falls YMCA is in dire financial straights and on the verge of insolvency. At least at some level, its former director covered up the problems to keep board members from finding out about the scope of troubles. According to those internal YMCA documents: â€˘â€ˆ A February assessment lists a cash balance of just $8,363, as of Dec. 31. The local YMCA has $521,000 in short-term debt and about $1 million in longterm debt. â€˘â€ˆ The nonprofit failed to pay $126,000 in payroll taxes and is in a repayment plan with the federal government. It stopped paying membership dues to the national YMCA in August and has failed to submit financial audits for several years since 2008. â€˘â€ˆ An on-site assessment found “a lack of transparency in all areas of the operation.â€? â€˘â€ˆ The YMCA of Twin Falls has “demonstrated a lack of cause driven leadership from both its CEO and board of directors,â€? the assessment states. And the local branch has “several critical decisions to make and they will need to made quickly to deal with their insolvency.‌ But perhaps the most stunning revelation is the mismanagement of hundreds of thousands of dollars from local donors. The Y used misused $693,000 in donations in 2014 tied to specific projects, according to the documents. T h a t s a m e y e a r, $600,000 was donated by the Kyle family, which owns local McDonald’s franchises — to transform the Y’s pool at its Elizabeth Street location into an indoor water park. To date, no construction has been done on the pool. The YMCA has received
other large donations in recent years, including $500,000 in May 2014 from Dr. Adrian Dean, which included a 3,000-square-foot building on Falls Avenue. Bill Kyle said Tuesday he’s aware of the issues at the YMCA. The family’s contribution two years ago was to “a dedicated fund for a very specific purpose,� he said, referring to the indoor water park. “That didn’t get handled in the appropriate fashion at the time, but it’s my understanding that steps are being taken to get that resolved,� Kyle said. He declined to comment about whether the family will consider giving to the YMCA in the future. He said his family has been supporting the YMCA ever since arriving in the Magic Valley more than 40 years ago. After a week of phone calls and emails from the Times-News, Mahan, the resources director with the national YMCA umbrella group who outlined the local’s Y’s woes in the documents, declined to comment Monday. She said she’s limited on what information she can disclose and referred questions to the YMCA of Twin Falls. “It’s their story to share,� she said. L o ca l b oa rd p re s i dent Andy Barry confirmed Mahan’s findings on Tuesday. Mahan and Tom O’Neil with the Treasure Valley Family YMCA conducted an assessment, which included an on-site visit in February in Twin Falls. Barry declined to comment Tuesday on how capital campaign money was used for operations, saying he thinks the February assessment “explains it all.� Still, major questions remain over how the Y spent so much money with little to show for it. The group has been growing in membership — and benefiting from the dues and massive private donations
— yet none of the projects earmarked for the donations have been completed, and the local facilities aren’t being maintained. The February assessment outlines facility problems, such as the pool at the Elizabeth Street YMCA that has been closed for two years and other parts of the facility that are in “poor condition.� But the tennis courts are in good shape, the assessment notes. At the Canyon Rim YMCA, the document notes “serious roof damage causing extensive water damage� and the building’s overall poor condition. Local YMCA officials will meet with Twin Falls city leaders Wednesday, city spokesman Joshua Palmer said. The YMCA put in the request for the meeting Monday, he said, but didn’t specify what it wanted to discuss. The city has been working with the YMCA on Americans with Disabilities Act compliance issues at the pool under contract, Palmer said, but he doesn’t know whether that’s the topic of the meeting. W h e n i t c o m e s to finances, the YMCA’s board is “working to understand the severity of their situation so that they can respond appropriately,� according to the assessment from the national YMCA. But the document also notes the board “has failed to understand and perform their duties.� Ettenger tried to take care of financial problems himself instead of bringing issues to the board, Barry told the Times-News on Tuesday. But “we parted on good terms,� he added. “The director was doing a good job. Everything looked good to us,� Barry said. “But he got himself into a behind situation on bills. He wasn’t transparent about it, so we thought things were great.� But the board itself hasn’t been entirely truthful with the public, telling reporters that Ettenger was retiring earlier this year because
of health reasons — not because, as the board now maintains, Ettenger was mismanaging the organization. Ettenger has not returned calls or commented on the situation. Barry said Tuesday that “all is well.� The YMCA has cut expenses and “cash flow is good. It’s a matter of dealing with our creditors.� “ We h ave a l o t o f work to do,� he said. But, “I don’t believe we are going anywhere.� The YMCA’s board has contested its probationary status and was given time to remedy the problems before the national group yanks its charter, Barry said. The board is in weekly contact with the national organization. “We have some recovery to do,� he said, but the YMCA has made “amazing progress. We’ve gone from pretty dismal to a pretty good position. Paying the past due stuff is going to take some time.�
Barry said he’s happy with what the YMCA has accomplished and with its loyal employees, who are aware of the financial situation. The YMCA’s board of directors and staff are committed to keeping YMCA moving forward, Barry wrote in a March statement. Over the next few months,
the board will assess its organizational needs and style of leadership they’ll look for in the next CEO. In her February letter, Mahan, the national YMCA resource director, wrote she wants to work with the board to preserve the Twin Falls YMCA branch. “The people of Twin Falls deserve the best you have to offer.�
Magic Valley Iris Show
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Magic Valley Iris Society
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