TROUBLES AT THE Marquette County YMCA.
The YMCA’s CEO, Lisa Coombs-Gerou, has been placed on administrative leave while YMCA USA organizes a team to visit the Marquette facility for a thorough investigation of the Y’s finances and operations.
A call to Coombs-Gerou at the YMCA and a message left for her have not been answered yet. A staff member said she was working in “another office.” Coombs- Gerou has been CEO for more than eight years.
The chief volunteer officer for the YMCA (the Board Chairman), Dr. Gregory Jones, confirmed the administrative leave and the impending investigation.
Staff members have been instructed to refer all inquiries to Dr. Jones.
Jones said questions had been raised about the finances and operations at the Y over the last several months and the Board thought it was prudent to conduct the investigation.
Why now? Jones said there were concerns with the planned opening of a day care center in Ishpeming, and before the YMCA proceeded with that, they wanted to be sure the nonprofit agency was on solid financial footing.
The YMCA recently completed a major expansion of the facility with the aid of a $3 million loan.
As a result of the concerns and the impending investigation, the opening of the Ishpeming facility has been suspended.
No other staff changes have been made and no other operations at the YMCA have been affected by the investigation.
How long will the investigation take? Jones is unsure. He expects the team to visit for at least a couple of days and then spend time analyzing the data before reaching any conclusions about the financial and operational status of the YMCA.
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