Annemarie Flaherty The Agoura Hills/Calabasas Community Center will celebrate its 10-year anniversary Dec. 11, but a cocktail party to highlight the center’s decade of accomplishments is being held tonight and will be attended by a variety of politicians and community leaders.

Annemarie Flaherty, the center’s executive director for the past two years, said invitations to this evening’s gala were sent to 125 local and state dignitaries, and others.

The history of the community center tells of the exceptional cooperation between Los Angeles County and the cities of Agoura Hills and Calabasas—and the determination of local politicians who worked together to achieve a common goal.

According to former Agoura Hills Mayor Ed Corridori, Los Angeles County provided land for the facility at no cost. At first, a courthouse was going to be built where the community center now stands on Malibu Hills Road in Calabasas. But the county didn’t have the money or the need for a courthouse in the area and the land was deeded over to the cities as parkland.

Corridori said former Agoura Hills Mayor Fran Pavley, who is now a state senator, took steps with former councilmember Ed Kurtz to bring the community center to life. Pavley helped create an alliance between the two cities to get the project off the ground.

“Agoura Hills did not have the money or a site to build a community center, but this was always a dream of many of us, so we had to be creative,” Pavley said told The Acorn.

Price tag not cheap Agoura Hills secured $500,000 for the Community Center as part of the first Los Angeles County Park Bond Act. Former Senator Sheila Kuehl lobbied for another $500,000 from the state, but was denied by Gov. Pete Wilson. The next year, however, she was able to secure the $1 million needed to build the 30,000-square-foot building, which is operated by a joint powers authority between the two cities. More bond money and corporate contributions followed.

The Community Center Alliance, the facility’s fundraising organization, used private donations to make sure there would be adequate furnishings inside the center when it opened in 1999. A golf tournament hosted by Malibu/ Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station, which is adjacent to the center, also helped raised money.

“It was very unique,” Flaherty said regarding the partnership between the two local cities. “It had never been done in California before.”

The cost of constructing the center is up for debate.

Corridori and Flaherty estimate that the construction costs were between $2.3 and $4.5 million. Audrey Brown, the assistant city manager of Westlake Village who was community services director for Agoura Hills in 1999 and headed up the center’s programs, remembers the cost at around $3 million. Regardless of the price tag, once the community center opened on Dec. 11, 1999, it held its own financially thanks to subsidies from both cities.

“It surprised us that it started out as well as it did,” Corridori said. “We thought it would be subsidized by cities for longer than it did.”

The new facility was “well utilized and a strong asset to the community,” Brown said.

According to Flaherty, the center costs $1.2 million a year to break even. At first, the cities made a combined annual contribution of $200,000 to the center. Today, each city gives $25,000 per year.

“First and foremost it’s a community center,” Flaherty said. “Our goal is to get as close as we can to our operating costs. The past two years have been break even, but (Agoura Hills and Calabasas) do contribute a small amount of money.”

Donations from the cities are used for capital improvements such as roof and parking lot repairs and replacing worn out gym equipment.

Key personnel

Dan Huncke, recreation services manager for the Calabasas Tennis and Swim Center, managed the center in its first year. Greg Johnson, director of community services for the city of Calabasas, worked with Brown on getting the operation off the ground, but accepted another job before the project was completed.

Flaherty commended her staff for the center’s continued success. Many employees have stayed since the beginning.

“Thelma Arnold has been here,” Flaherty said. “She’s the one who opens up the doors every morning at 5:45 a.m. She is a gem. She is never not there.”

Flaherty said Linda Schroeder, the membership services and facility manager, has been working at the center since it opened and is responsible for the center’s burgeoning health memberships.

“She’s phenomenal with everyone. Then there’s Henry Cano, the center’s maintenance coordinator. . . . I can’t tell you how many people have come in and been surprised that the center is 10 years old, because it has been kept up so well,” Flaherty said. Popular in the community

According to Flaherty, health memberships have grown from 400 to more than 1,400 since operations began. The after-school teen program has expanded and about 70 middle school students come to the center five days a week for homework, sports and socialization.

Schroeder says many star athletes have used the facilities for training, including Terrell Owens of the NFL and Bryon Russell and Mark Jackson of the NBA, but she says the biggest draw for residents is the wide array of programs that is offered to the membership at large.

The center features a fully equipped gym, basketball court, weight room and fitness programs.

The center ’s annual St. Patrick’s Day shindig has been a community favorite for the past three years and attracts families throughout the region.

“The first year we had 1,000 people (come to the event),” Schroeder said. Entertainment has included belly dancers, Irish singers and dancers and plenty of free food.

“It’s our big, yearly special event every year,” Schroeder said.

Her biggest disappointment came when an Israeli folk dancing troupe pulled their program from the center several years ago to move closer to metropolitan Los Angeles. The popular classes attracted up to 150 people every Sunday night.

Shroeder said about 115 people who signed up as members when the center opened still use the facilities.

Fitness classes range from calm stretching, Pilates and muscle conditioning to high energy step, boot camp, cycling and cardio-kickboxing, Schroeder said.

Children’s programs include hip hop and ballet classes, rock wall climbing and more. Senior Fitness classes were recently added and other new classes include ballroom swing and salsa, Mah Jong and badminton.

The banquet halls are rented annually by Congregation Or Ami for the Jewish High Holiday services. Agoura Hills holds its annual Senior Expo at the center, and some parents have used the facility for birthday parties, weddings, and bar and bat mitzvahs.

The center’s annual community garage sale also attracts big crowds, Schroeder said.