Committee making splash for Othello pool
Committee making splash for Othello pool
Replacement bond on February ballot
OTHELLO —The drive for a new pool will come to a head next month, and supporters spread out Monday night to answer questions about the latest proposal to replace the permanently closed facility.
Pool committee members posted sketches and information about their proposal at a question and answer forum Monday at Time Out Pizza, for the $2.6 million bond voters will decide Feb. 7.
"I think that the longer we go without a pool the more enthusiastic people are to have one," said Alan Hanks. "We went a whole summer without a pool, and it was hard."
Hanks is a board member of Adams County Parks and Recreation District No. 1, who have officially placed the pool on the ballot.
Hanks said he can remember how excited the city was when the original pool opened in the 1960s. The current pool was a haven for city residents to cool off for four decades, until continuing repairs forced its permanent closure in 2004.
This will be the third time since 2003 in which voters have decided a pool bond, a measure that needs a 60 percent supermajority to pass. The first pool proposal went to voters with a price tag of $3 million, and the pool committee has since pared down their proposal to $2.85 in 2004 and $2.6 in next month's election.
The smaller, more basic pool design, is one Hanks said is not extravagant, but one where Othello kids would want to spend an entire summer afternoon.
The $2.6-million bond would construct a six-lane, 25-meter lap pool connected to a zero-depth area and a single slide. The new pool would use the existing site adjacent to Lions Park, and a remodeled existing bathhouse structure. A volunteer has come forward to remove and dispose the existing pool, a cost that had been priced at up to $200,000.
Pool Committee Co-Chair Dave Anderson called the election a very important one for the city, and said pool committee members held the forum Monday to show citizens what exactly they would be voting on next month.
Only a handful of residents came to the forum, but those who did had a positive view of the pool's design.
"I like it," said Alex Rocha of the designs. "It's time for us to have a new pool."
In addition to the forum, the pool committee will be sending out informational pamphlets alongside ballots this week. Ballots for the all-mail election are scheduled to be sent to voters Thursday.
The parks and recreation district would collect 32 cents per $1,000 assessed valuation for the 20-year life of the bond, or a property tax cost of $32 per year for a home valued at $100,000.
Hanks said the pool committee has spoken to public meetings and civic clubs to present their proposal in recent weeks, in preparation of the bond.
"The people we're talking to, the groups we've talked to so far have been very enthusiastic," Hanks said.
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