ANAHEIM : YMCA Panel to Seek Solutions for Debt

The Anaheim Family YMCA’s board of directors this week appointed a committee of business and community leaders to find a way to pay off its $1.2-million debt and get back on its feet.

Included on the committee are City Councilman Irv Pickler and Lew Overholt, a former councilman, as well as ministers and businessmen.

The board also appointed as acting general director Todd Ament, 28, who has run the group’s Camp Osceola for children in Big Bear for eight years.

Michael Larkin, the previous general director, was fired last week after the debt caused the Orange County YMCA to reject a plan to have it take over the Anaheim group.

“What we want to do is address the debt and move forward,” Ament said. “We do not anticipate cutting any programs.”

He also said he does not expect fees or dues to be increased at the club, which has 1,480 members. He said he is a candidate for the permanent position.

The 81-year-old YMCA, in the 1500 block of North Street, is $850,000 in debt to outside creditors and about $350,000 in debt to its retirement and maintenance funds.

Ament said the debt was not caused by malfeasance, but he did not give its exact cause. He said an outside auditor determined the group’s $1.2-million budget for the current year is balanced.

Larkin, who had been director for four years, declined comment Tuesday.

“I just want to put this behind me and let it die,” he said.