KALONA

A report by CEO Amy Schulte on the Kalona YMCA’s performance over the past year took center stage at the city council’s meeting Monday night. While the current number of memberships is tied with 2023 at 1800, Schulte said she expects the membership number to exceed that by the end of the year.

“If you remember, September of 2018 we opened this facility,” City Administrator Ryan Schlabaugh commented. “We had 914 members at that time, so we’re essentially double that.”

Schulte reported that 121 kids took swimming lessons at the pool this summer, 295 played townball, and 109 joined youth volleyball.

“Wellman, Kalona and Washington’s numbers for youth volleyball are just through the roof,” she said. “The demand is just incredible, so I think that we’ll continue to see those numbers grow.”

Esports was a new offering this year, with six kids from Kalona participating, in addition to 21 in Washington.

“It’s been a great addition to our programming here, and something that makes it a little bit unique for those kids who maybe don’t play sports,” Schulte said.

Membership rates will increase for Kalona residents in 2025 about 9%, which amounts to $1.50/month more for families and $20/year additional for seniors. The city council approved the 2025 Kalona resident rate structure.

“It’s a really great opportunity we have for the community members here and to see how much they take advantage of it is unbelievable,” Schlabaugh said.

Other council action at the Nov. 4 meeting included approval of plans for Phase 2 of the Incline Grove subdivision, including engineering plans and specs, waiver of a site plan for the 6-acre lots, and the rezoning of 15.06 acres.

The Kalona City Council will next meet on Monday, Nov. 18 at 7 p.m. at City Hall.