Othello pool dream stays alive
Mayor hopes fact-finding meeting sparks "grassroots" movement to bring pool to city
OTHELLO — After an excruciatingly close defeat at the polls last November, Mayor Jeannie Sanders and a group of citizens wanting to bring a new pool to the city refuse to let their dream die.
As part of this campaign, proponents of the levy meant to finance a new pool have been holding fact-finding meetings, the next one scheduled for March 22 at 6 p.m. at City Hall.
Last November, the pool levy, then set at $2.85 million for 20 years, failed to get the needed 60 percent super majority by 36 votes, losing by an edge of 58.9 percent in favor to 41.06 against, a close defeat that still stings.
"We didn't see it coming," Sanders said. "It's disappointing that we have to start all over just for 36 votes."
Sanders said that she hoped to find people with whom to start a new grassroots movement to get the levy to pass and bring a new pool to the city.
The slim margin needed for the levy to pass means that proponents of the pool are close to what citizens want, she added. However, to erase the 36-vote gap, their proposal will have to be reworked, with certain pool features being removed, such as the physical fitness room and the wave pool.
Among the features that will remain in the proposal are the splash playground, lap lanes for the swimming team and a zero-depth entry to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act regulations.
Cutting the price of the project might help the levy pass this time. The Othello City Council will study a request to take $40,000 annually from the general fund and to pledge $60,000 from the utility taxes fund in order to lower the levy even more.
This would not be the first time the levy is scaled down. The first time it went on the ballot, in November 2003, the levy was set at $3 million for 20 years. It failed to even reach the 50 percent mark.
Until this new version of the levy passes, Othello faces what citizens hope it's their last summer without a pool. The old pool at Lions Park was condemned last year and it will not reopen. The thousands of people that used to go to the old pool will likely have to drive north to Moses Lake Family Aquatic Center instead.
Sanders said that it's up to the voters to make sure that the pool-less summer of 2005 does not happen again. After two failed tries at the ballot box, her optimism has not diminished.
"I am positive it's going to pass this time," she said.