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Bethel City Council Discusses YK Fitness Center Rates

On August 14, 2018, Bethel's City Council spent most of a short meeting discussing the Yukon Kuskokwim Fitness Center.
Christine Trudeau/KYUK

On Tuesday night, the Bethel City Council spent most of a short meeting discussing the Yukon-Kuskokwim Fitness Center, how much it costs, and who pays what.

Ordinance 18-18 would place the Fitness Center’s various rates in the city’s Fees and Rates Schedule. Supporters of the ordinance argued that this would provide more transparency and oversight. Council members used the agenda item to discuss how much membership in the Y-K Fitness Center actually costs. While plenty of residents pay full rate at the gym and pool, residents who work for Bethel’s big employers are able to buy their memberships at lower, corporate rates they get through work. Council member Leif Albertson said that those rates should be publicly listed as well.

"It seems like there’s another rate structure that is not in our code that is actually what’s happening," Albertson said. "If somebody came to me and said, 'half the town isn’t paying the rates that you published,' it would be hard for me to explain, 'well, those are corporate rates, those don’t get published.'"

Mayor Rick Robb expressed concern that the ordinance could eventually jeopardize the corporate rates that many gym aficionados rely on. "I believe the biggest one is the YK[HC] rate, because that has the most employees," he said with a laugh. "And as an employee who benefits from that rate, I’m thinking that if we pass this ordinance, that rate is going to go away."

The Council ultimately approved the ordinance by a four to one vote, with Mayor Robb casting the single opposing vote.