Interim Leadership Energizing Northern Berkshire YMCA

Randy Kinnas, interim CEO of the Northern Berkshire YMCA, speaks at the organization's 129th annual meeting on Wednesday.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Northern Berkshire YMCA has a long history of serving the region, but it had a short annual meeting on Wednesday morning.

That's partly because planned keynote speaker Mike Jaffe, known as the "human wake-up call," had a death in the family so could not attend. But it's also because the organization is currently in a very good place, despite having had a change in leadership.

"It is running absolutely flawlessly," said David Brown, president of the board of directors. "Financially it is solid."

In between official business of approving a new slate of officers and recognizing Renzi Lamb as "YMCA Ambassador" and Julio Cruzado with the "Youth Volunteer Award," Brown talked about how the arrival of Pittsfield Family YMCA CEO Randy Kinnas as its interim leader has given the 129-year-old organization a boost.

"There is a new energy in that building that is absolutely palpable," Brown said. "By and large, the Y is in good shape. More importantly, it's in good hands."

The YMCA had to find a temporary CEO with the departure of Justin Ihne, who left at the end of October to pursue a position with another YMCA in New Jersey. Ihne had led the YMCA for four years, replacing former CEO Joe McGovern, who now runs Northern Berkshire United Way.

The solution came from its neighbor to the south, with the boards of directors of the Northern Berkshire YMCA and the Pittsfield Family YMCA approving an agreement in October in which the Pittsfield Family YMCA would provide interim management for the North Adams facility.

North Adams Hopes to Transform Y Into Community Recreation Center

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
05:19AM / Thursday, May 02, 2024

Mayor Jennifer Macksey updates members of the former YMCA on the status of the roof project and plans for reopening. 

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The city has plans to keep the former YMCA as a community center.

 

"The city of North Adams is very committed to having a recreation center not only for our youth but our young at heart," Mayor Jennifer Macksey said to the applause of some 50 or more YMCA members on Wednesday. "So we are really working hard and making sure we can have all those touch points."

 

The fate of the facility attached to Brayton School has been in limbo since the closure of the pool last year because of structural issues and the departure of the Berkshire Family YMCA in March.

 

The mayor said the city will run some programming over the summer until an operator can be found to take over the facility. It will also need a new name. 

 

"The YMCA, as you know, has departed from our facilities and will not return to our facility in the form that we had," she said to the crowd in Council Chambers. "And that's been mostly a decision on their part. The city of North Adams wanted to really keep our relationship with the Y, certainly, but they wanted to be a Y without borders, and we're going a different direction."

 

The pool was closed in March 2023 after the roof failed a structural inspection. Kyle Lamb, owner of Geary Builders, the contractor on the roof project, said the condition of the laminated beams was far worse than expected. 

 

"When we first went into the Y to do an inspection, we certainly found a lot more than we anticipated. The beams were actually rotted themselves on the bottom where they have to sit on the walls structurally," he said. "The beams actually, from the weight of snow and other things, actually crushed themselves eight to 11 inches. They were actually falling apart. ...