City to start over on pool

By Jennifer Eisenbart

Editor

Whether or not the City of Burlington wants – or needs – a community pool will likely take some more time to figure out.

Taking the matter up in Tuesday night’s Committee of the Whole meeting, the Common Council gave city staff direction to go back to the various companies that submitted proposals to study and possibly build a new pool – minus Burbach Aquatics, who the city could not reach an agreeable contract with in April.

The council, as well as audience members and representatives from the Community Pool Board, debated the issue for more than an hour Tuesday night.

What the discussion invariably came back to? Whether or not the city wants to support the cost involved in renovating or replacing the current pool, and also whether the pool should have priority over other projects, such as a new City Hall or renovations to a library rapidly outgrowing its current space.

As Mayor Bob Miller said, there was “no clear direction” from the council after the last meeting – in April, which officially ended attempts to reach a contract with Burbach.

The city could not reach an agreement with the company that would have allowed the city to step away if the study phase of the project indicated city residents did not want a new or renovated pool.

“We’re kind of in limbo now,” Miller said.

But the idea of completing the first two phases of the original proposal – a study of the pool and what needed to be done, as well as drawing up a preliminary plan with costs – wasn’t the only matter needing to be addressed Tuesday. As the various aldermen pointed out, a referendum on whether or not to build a new pool – or renovate the old one – didn’t address the real question: the priority of the various projects the city is looking at in the next few years.

Miller explained the City Hall and the library are, for all intents and purposes, functional at the moment.

“The pool is functional right now – barely,” Miller said.

But Alderman Jon Schultz pointed out that addressing the pool situation might be putting the “cart before the horse.”

“I don’t know if the pool’s on top” in terms of priorities for citizens. Alderman Tom Preusker also pointed out that a referendum to the community should also ask which items should get priority.

A referendum simply asking if a new pool should be built (or the old one repaired) didn’t answer the question in his mind.

He wanted to find a market survey firm that could create a focus group and get a firm grasp on what city residents want.

“They’re experts at getting market data,” he said.

Preusker also said the city needed to get information on not just what the costs would be to renovate or build new, but continuing operating costs. As he explained, residents needed to know that the cost wouldn’t just be limited to the building costs, but possibly more money for operating, in addition to membership fees.

However, Alderman Tom Vos said the pool is in a position much like the former Vets Building was before Veterans Terrace came into existence. There, the aging building and the delay of repairs made the place less appealing for people looking to rent it for functions.

With the new Veterans Terrace, Vos said, that has completely turned around.

“You know the old saying, ‘Build it and they will come’? Well, it’s true,” he said.

Other factors discussed included the possibility of large private donations – Miller said he has approached companies for possible donations, though that is on hold because of the current indecision on the project – and whether the city council should change the scope of its request for proposals from pool study companies.

City Attorney John Bjelajac said anything the council wants in a contract could likely be worked out. In fact, that is why the city chose to walk away from Burbach – because a contract limiting city liability couldn’t be reached.

That was the final direction from the council, along with Schultz’s insistence on what he called “real-world numbers.” He specifically mentioned the pool project in Elkhorn at Sunset Park, and finding out what was working out over there.