|
Council group to review pool plan |
|
Tuesday, 27 March 2007 |
By WILLIAM LANEY
Managing Editor
The next step in determining the viability of a municipal pool in Wapakoneta is to include a review of an existing report and to hold talks with officials who oversee municipal community pools, a Wapakoneta City councilor says.
After a 90-minute meeting discussing the past and existing conditions of the municipal pool at Harmon Park, council’s Parks and Recreation Committee Chair Rachel Barber proposed reviewing a proposal by Brandstetter Carroll, the Lexington, Ky.-based aquatic facilities planner, and meeting with officials from communities similar in size to Wapakoneta to discuss funding and operation of their pools.
“I think by the end of that very long meeting, we agreed that we would look at the report from Brandstetter Carroll and give everybody an opportunity to review the report so we can comment on their recommendations,” Barber told members of the Ad Hoc Pool Committee Monday. “We are under no obligation to accept those recommendations — we need to find a solution in the best interest of our community, both in terms of our recreational opportunities and in terms of our finances.”
Ad Hoc Pool Committee members are to determine if the city should take ownership of the municipal pool and develop short- and long-term goals for the pool. The pool is owned by the Wapakoneta City Schools District, operated by the Wapakoneta Family YMCA and partially funded by the city of Wapakoneta.
Barber said the decisions made by Ad Hoc Pool Committee members will not be easy, but she was encouraged by progress made by the group.
“I think we did keep moving forward and the last time we talked as a group I told them that there would not be an easy answer to this,” Barber said. “There is nobody in that room that doesn’t want to do what is best for the people of Wapakoneta — it is just a matter of developing a plan to get there.”
Barber suggested starting with each member reviewing the plan developed by Brandstetter Carroll.
The Brandstetter Carroll report, prepared in July 2004, estimated the cost to renovate the pool, pool deck, pool house and replace the filtration system as well as make minor improvements at a cost of $1.3 million as the first of two phases. The second phase, which included a second waterslide, a lazy river and sprayground, was estimated to cost $990,000.
Barber said the next step is to be proactive.
“We need to set a goal and then figure out how to get there,” the 4th Ward councilor said. “It is much easier to say ‘No’ than ‘Yes’ because saying ‘Yes’ carries with it a lot of responsibilities.
“When we talk about a pool, these are not responsibilities that most other communities have not already embraced and are not already doing,” Barber added. “We do not have to reinvent things here, we can look at what works other places.”
Barber said she plans to talk with St. Marys Water Superintendent Dave Sprague and other St. Marys city officials about their recent pool renovations. St. Marys city officials renovated their community pool with money from a 0.5 percent income tax levy earmarked for capital improvements including the pool and street improvements.
Mayor Don Wittwer said the money generated from a 0.5 percent income tax levy could have been used to improve the pool and city streets in Wapakoneta.
“They have had a 0.5 percent income tax for capital improvements for the past 22 years so they have better than $25 million more than the city of Wapakoneta,” Mayor Don Wittwer said. “If I had $25 million to spend during the past 22 years, we would have the finest water park the city could afford. Yes, I would like to see the city have a pool.”
Ad Hoc Pool Committee members discussed renovating or reconstructing the pool in several phases. They also discussed several ways to finance the renovation including using Hauss-Helms Community Trust funds to be garnered when Telephone Service Co. stock donated to the city is sold to Hanson Communications Inc. of Minnesota.
Safety-Service Director Rex Katterheinrich volunteered to research funding of the Bluffton municipal pool.
“I would be willing to do some research on this, but I am almost positive on this that the citizens of Bluffton went through an initiative petition to put a 0.2 percent or 0.25 percent income tax on the ballot,” Katterheinrich said. “They went out and promoted that, they campaigned door-to-door to make that happen and that amount was specifically and totally there to build and support the pool.”
Katterheinrich said if the pool is as big an issue as previous groups that approached the city about a new pool say, then an initiative is a possibility for funding renovations and annual operation costs.
Dianna Epperly, an at-large member of the Ad Hoc Pool Committee, challenged fellow committee members to develop a plan for the city of Wapakoneta to help it move a 1930s structure into the present century.
“A city of 10,000 people, the county seat that sits on Interstate 75, and doesn’t feel like it can give its residents quality recreation, isn’t part of the 21st century and isn’t moving there,” Epperly said.
|
|
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 28 March 2007 )
|
