Vernon Delpesce attended another meeting of the Vision Iowa board today, and once again “I did not walk out with a $1 million check,” he said.

Delpesce, president and CEO of the YMCA of Greater Des Moines, is seeking the funds to help fill part of a $6.5 million shortfall for the construction of a swimming pool at the Wellmark YMCA at Fifth Avenue and Walnut Street.

Delpesce said the board wants to know the status of the YMCA’s application for federal New Market Tax Credits, and he did not have an answer.

The YMCA is working with tax credit distributors in Chicago and South Dakota to obtain the credits. The problem is that the U.S. Treasury Department has yet to announce the current round of funding for the program.

“Even if I couldn’t give them a dollar amount, I would have at least known that it’s not zero,” he said.

If the tax credits are not awarded, the YMCA is hoping to find a lender that will provide the balance of funds needed to build the swimming pool.

“We are working on both options,” Delpesce said. Meanwhile, he hopes to clear another financial burden in the next few weeks with the closing of the sale of the former Riverfront YMCA property at 101 Locust St. to Hubbell Realty Co. The company is contemplating the purchase of the property, President and CEO Rick Tollakson told the Business Record in a May 13 article.   Read more >>>