The Morehead News

Local News

September 14, 2012

City, MSU work to accommodate walkers

By Nicole Sturgill - Staff Writer The Morehead News

Sept. 14, 2012 —     Morehead City Council Member Bill Patrick is standing up for his fellow walkers.  

    Patrick has a membership to walk at Morehead State University’s Recreation and Wellness Center and said he has noticed there are fewer walkers now than when walker memberships were first issued.

    Initially, walker memberships were free.  Members paid $10 for an ID card. Those memberships now cost $10 a month, or $120 a year.

    Patrick asked MSU President Wayne Andrews at this month’s City Council meeting if something could be done to better accommodate the community’s low-income residents.  

    Andrews attended the meeting to give a report on MSU’s business. His message focused on upcoming university-related events.

    “I know a single mother that’s probably 100 pounds overweight, that works two days a week, that’s got two kids, does not get any kind of public assistance,” Patrick said. “And I asked her,  ‘Why did you quit walking, when you were doing so well?’ and she says, ‘The $10, I cannot afford. It’s too high. I cannot afford $10 a month.”

    Andrews said he appreciates Patrick’s concern. He told him Yvette Kell, the wellness center’s director, is working on some programs that could help. One is called Silver Sneakers.

     The program provides a membership for older adults to participating fitness facilities.

    “Let me just refresh your memory about the facility,” Andrews said. “That facility cost $24 million and it’s being paid for entirely by student fees. Students are paying $100 per student, per semester, that goes to the debt service on that, so there’s not a taxpayer dollar in that facility.”

    He continued:

    “Now, the university is paying for all the staff and all benefits for the staff. My value on this right from the start has been to try to provide as much access to the community as we can, so Rowan County Swim Team, you know, those folks have access to it. But they’ve got to pay something because the truth of the matter is, that’s a 100,000-square-foot building and there’s a lot of expense associated with it.”

    Andrews proposed the university pay half for the elderly and the city pay the other half.

    “These are citizens of Morehead, Kentucky that you want to have access to the facility that we’re paying for and we’re willing to do that,” Andrews said. “I make a commitment here tonight we figure out how to do it.”

    He requested the city decide how much it could afford to pay and the university would match it.

    “I don’t think we can do that,” City Attorney Joyce Stevens said. “Our expenditures have to benefit the public as a whole.”

    “Well, make the public benefit,” he said. “Just say to people you want to do it. You all think about it. All I’m trying to do is offer a way for us to achieve the goal you’ve outlined. What you need to know from me is we’re spending a lot of money up there at that facility that students are paying for.”

    Patrick said he would think about Andrews’ proposal.

    Kell later said the reason a fee was implemented is because of membership survey results.

    “Paying members were upset,” she said. “It was largely driven by budget. This is a student facility paid for by the students. It costs money to operate this facility. I understand people are having financial hardships.”

    The money has to come from somewhere, she said. For now she feels like the $120 fee is a fair way to accommodate the community.

    Nicole Sturgill can be reached at nsturgill@themoreheadnews.com or by telephone at 784-4116.

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