Westfield council pledges $5 million to YMCA

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The Westfield City Council unanimously approved a pledge of $5 million for the YMCA’s fundraising initiative at its March 14 meeting. The council will vote again on the matter at a future meeting if an agreement is reached between the city and the YMCA on what amenities the Westfield YMCA will include.

The YMCA requested the $5 million of the city’s American Rescue Plan Act dollars at the council’s Feb. 14 meeting. YMCA officials, who are trying to raise $16 million for a YMCA facility to be built in Westfield, said they doubted they could reach that total without the city’s contribution of $5 million. Previously, the facility was valued at $20 million, but certain components were eliminated because of funding concerns.

At the time of the February meeting, the YMCA had raised $6 million. At a follow-up council meeting later in February, YMCA of Greater Indianapolis CEO Gregg Hiland said if the city granted $5 million, the YMCA would contribute $3.5 million, leaving $2 million to still be raised. Construction is expected to begin spring 2023.

Council member Cindy Spoljaric said it was difficult to approve the $5 million without having agreement details in writing, although she ended up voting in favor of the pledge.

“The first request for this was a different project,” Spoljaric said. “It has since kind of, excuse the term, been dumbed down and is missing components we thought were going to be in there. I’m not saying that’s going to happen again but making a pledge without any kind of assurances of what we’re going to get is not something I’m prepared to do.”

The city and the YMCA must reach those terms by June 1.

All councilors voted in favor of pledging the money to the YMCA. For more, visit westfield.in.gov.


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