Othello logo, aq center make waves

Failure of bond in November, differences of opinion on logo still make city leaders restless

The idea of building an aquatic center in Othello, thought to be dead in the water after a defeat in the ballot box, keeps making waves.

First, there is the issue of whether the brochure for the aquatic center, initially planned to be managed by the city of Othello should have been carrying the city logo.

Second, there is the issue of the beating the bond to finance the center took during last year's elections.

The way things stand, Sanders said, is people are trying to split hairs on an issue that does not matter. She added the reason there was a logo on the aquatic center brochure was because there was a partnership between the park district and the city.

Sanders said that even with the partnership, the city was going to be in charge of running the pool and staffing it.

"It's silly for people to be saying (the logo) should not be included when the aquatic center was for Othello."

Councilman Ken Johnson said that the use of the logo on different campaign brochures makes it look "like the city supports it, and it is not always true. The city is supposed to take a neutral stand."

Local resident Dale Wyman agreed, saying that putting the logo on the brochure was probably not the best thing. "It misrepresents who sponsors the project," he said.

Regarding the possibility of the city managing the center, Johnson said that although it was an aquatic center the city of Othello would end up taking possession of, "it was up to the city to decide that."

Johnson said he was satisfied with the steps taken to avoid similar controversies, such as the city's acquiring the rights to the logo, becoming the sole rightful user.

Wyman said that he does not believe people were trying to misuse the logo, but that he would like to make sure that in the future, people cannot use it for their own advertising purposes.

The question of logo placing is one of the issues surrounding the center, whose construction bonds failed in the Nov. 2002 elections.

The mayor said the economy must have been the factor that caused the bond to not reach the required 60 percent majority. She still declares herself surprised by the defeat, saying the people pushing the bond gave people choices of how to pay for it.

"It was truly a low bond," she said. "When we got the surveys back, we got back a response of 87 percent of people saying 'we want an aquatic center.'" The bond did not break the 50 percent mark on Election Day.

Adding to her surprise is the comparison between Othello and Ritzville. Sanders described Ritzville as a community composed of retirees, but which recently passed a bond for a new aquatic center. Othello has a bigger population and a higher number of school-age children than Ritzville.

"Maybe the city is waiting for the (Othello City) pool to completely fail," she said. "It's 40 years old and it has definitely served its life."

Given that there are no immediate plans to bring the aquatic center back to the attention of the voters, the city's hope is that the aging pool near Lions Park holds up until the issue comes up again.

"We are hoping that it keeps lasting," she said, praising the pool maintenance work of the city's public works employees.

Despite the waves encountered by the project, Sanders remains optimistic that someday Othello will have a brand-new aquatic center, or at least another chance at building one.

"I am positive it will come up sometime in the future," she said. "There are no plans of when we are going to go after it, though."