CRESTVIEW — Officials in Crestview and Fort Walton Beach have expressed interest in being allowed to operate their YMCAs independently from the YMCA of Florida’s Emerald Coast.
However, the Emerald Coast association must turn in its charter to the YMCA of the USA before anyone can contemplate independent operations, according to Jessica Wylie, a YMCA USA spokesperson.
“The Emerald Coast association’s board of directors is the decision-making authority for the association,” she said in an email. “The board’s decision to cease operations means all three branches must cease operations as YMCAs. The branches cannot continue independently.”
All YMCA offices in Okaloosa County permanently closed on Friday.
The Boys and Girls Clubs of the Emerald Coast committed to take over two after-school programs that stood to be affected by the closing of Okaloosa County’s YMCAs.
The decision prevents parents of about 100 children at Walker Elementary in Crestview and Kenwood Elementary in Fort Walton Beach from worrying about the after-school program's future.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: National YMCA weighs in on closures