Council Terminates Teen Center Employee Contracts

The Madison Teen Center, which has recently been operating out of the Bayley-Ellard gym, will no longer be a destination for some of the borough's youth.

The Borough Council, at its normal meeting on Monday night, voted to terminate the contracts of the part-time director and assistant director of the center. The vote come after the recommendation of Administrator Ray Codey to continue teen services to the borough through the Madison YMCA instead of the teen center.

Codey had recently been in talks with other facilities that could offer similar services, and received an offer from the YMCA that he, and the council thereafter, felt would be a better budget choice.

Codey said that the borough would save about half of the money it spends on the center by shifting services to the YMCA.

A large contingent of supporters for the teen center and its two part-time employees–director Ray Kalas and assistant director Christopher Bias–came to Monday's meeting. Teens and parents alike spoke, telling the council why they wanted to keep the center and bring it back to its 28 Walnut St. location at the Civic Center.

"I had a very rough patch in my life, and the teen center made a big impact on me," said Kaitlin McCulloch, the first person to speak before the council. "When I heard it might be closing down, it effected me greatly. I believe the teen center should be left open because of the great things that came out of it for me. ... my little sister, who has been wanting to go to the teen center for a long time, will be able to go next year and I want her to have that chance."

Some residents said the Teen Center is a great asset to the growing Madison Latino community.

"I just want to tell you the teen center was a great asset to the community, especially for the Latino community that is growing for Madison," said Vivian Gill, a past employee of the center. "When i was a member about two years ago, many of the kids would come to me and the parents would come over. Many of the parents were looking for translations. I think the teen center is a great asset to the community and not only should we think about how limited the space (at the Bayley-Ellard gym) for the kids is, but how well the parents were able to communicate with their children and other parents"

Council members and the mayor expressed desire for the YMCA to have bilingual student workers (as the YMCA workers are hired from nearby Drew University) hired for the teen services. Codey said some students that work there now are bilingual and he would try to make it a condition that the university recommend bilingual students to the YMCA.

Kalas told the council his center provides services the borough can't get anywhere else.

"I would like to say that I don't think there is another organization in town that offers what the teen center offers,"Kalas said. "No one organization offers what it offers. It offers an unstructured environment; I hear from the students they like it. It is a safe environment. ... It is a great introductory for kids that are just learning to be independent. They are coming from a structured environment like school to an unstructured environment."

Codey said that the center costs the borough approximately $53,000 per year for the program, staff, and materials, and when you add the cost of upkeep and the money the center doesn't have to pay rent, it is between $70,000-75,000. He said the YMCA proposal would cost $29,000.

Codey also said the equipment from the center would be brought to the YMCA. It would also have tutors, 11 staff members devoted to the teen services, similar hours, and would be open during school vacations.

Codey also said he told the YMCA if the borough made the change, it had two very qualified professionals the YMCA could hire in the form of Kalas and Bias. The YMCA said it was open to interviewing them, but there is no formal commitment in the proposal.

Though the vote to terminate Kalas' and Bias' contracts passed by a 5-0 vote (Councilman Robert Conley abstained), the entire council said they did so with some sadness.

"I think I speak for all of us when I say it's unfortunate we can't provide our own teen center," Councilwoman Astri Baillie said. "But given the times, we need to look for shared services and joining with other groups to provide services for all teens in Madison at a price we all can afford, and save tax payer money. But it is sad, because it did provide a service to part of the community that might not have had those opportunities otherwise. We need to get them over there."