NEWBURYPORT — For a few minutes Friday afternoon, six current and former city mayors, along with two past state officials, stood outside the proposed home for Newburyport Recreation and Youth Services on Low Street to stump for the city's plan to build an $8.3 million recreation center there.

Former Mayors Donna Holaday, Lisa Mead, Mary Anne Clancy, John Moak and Mary Carrier, along with one-time state Rep. Michael Costello and former Essex County (and an ex. state representative himself) Sheriff Frank Cousins, joined Mayor Sean Reardon in holding a "Yes for the Rec!" sign.

The public servants all said they agree a new recreation center must be built on the former National Guard property.

"This is an investment in our kids, an investment in our community, an investment in our future," Mead said.

A special election has been scheduled for Tuesday, May 13, to see if residents will approve spending $6.5 million to fund most of the proposed center. It would also include a gymnasium, meeting and quiet study space, an art and multipurpose room, as well as large spaces for community events.

The additional annual cost in property taxes for the average homeowner to pay for the project has been estimated at up to $55, or $4.50 a month.

Clancy said she wants the community to know she and her fellow former public servants are united in seeing a new rec. center built.

"We've all done different things when we served," Clancy said. "But when it comes to this project, we're all together as one."

Recreation and Youth Services has been looking for a new homebase ever since the boiler in the former Brown School was deemed unusable in the fall of 2021.

In early 2022, the city purchased the old National Guard building for $220,000 in free cash. The Parks Division is currently using the property for storage and other things. Reardon said all of that would move to the Department of Public Services headquarters on Perry Way, if the new rec. center is built.

Every city department, according to Moak, needs a home base to be effective.

"I think that's important for the kids and any activity that goes on," he said. "My grandchildren and my second set of grandchildren and now involved with the youth program and it is such an asset to our community."

Having already been based out of the former Kelley School, the former Brown School and now an office in City Hall, Recreation and Youth Services director Andrea Egmont has made excellent use of every location she's had, Holaday said.

"Every space she had, she was able to use effectively," she said. "Even though she couldn't use the second floor of the Kelley school, she made that first floor work beautifully. And it was the same thing at the Brown School."

Newburyport, according to Costello, has traditionally taken care of its infrastructure issues.

"We've done our water and sewer over, we did three schools over, we did the library and the police station over and we're just coming off the bond from doing the high school over," he said. "You look around other cities and towns and they're in a lot tougher shape. That's why you see big (property) tax rates across the river in Amesbury because they were slow to do those things."

The proposed rec. center he added is the next chapter in taking care of the city.

"People are trying to say this is going to add X amount to to the tax bill," Costello said. "It's also going to increase our (home) values because people want to come to a place where their kids are taken care of with good schools and a good youth center. My kids aren't using it anymore but I'm happy to pay the tab for the next generation of kids."

Mead also said new public buildings make the city more desirable for people who want to locate their businesses here.

"They also help those who have businesses here draw employees because of what we have to offer," she said.

The building's locale, just across the street from the Edward G. Molin Upper Elementary School and Rupert A. Nock Middle School, Cousins said is another attractive element.

"People will be able to drive by and see this working," he said. "That's part of a theme we have had in Newburyport, building improvements that people can see."

Pointing to the Newburyport Senior/Community Center, which was built under Holaday's watch, Carrier said it's been getting continuous use ever since and is one example of an excellent city project.

"It's probably the best building in town, so it's time to do something for the young people," she said.

The former elected officials also signed off on a letter to the editor expressing their enthusiasm about the project.

The current mayor said he was "incredibly grateful" to his processors for showing up on Friday and backing the city's plan.

"I grew up admiring all of these people and the fact that they could all come together and put their voice around something that's as important as this project is, means a lot to me and hopefully to the community," he said

The blue and green "Yes for the Rec!" signs like the one held by the officials on Friday were made by an eponymous ballot question committee, dedicated to seeing the rec. center built.

Another ballot question committee, Vote NO on May 13 were expected to have their own, maroon and gold yard signs out on the streets over the weekend.

Staff writer Jim Sullivan covers Newburyport for The Daily News. He can be reached via email at jsullivan@newburyportnews.com or by phone at 978-961-3145. Follow him on Twitter @ndnsully.