Future of pool will hinge on consultant

By Jennifer Eisenbart

Editor

City of Burlington Mayor Bob Miller knows the complexity of the issues surrounding possible improvements to the community pool.

It’s why he’s given members of the City Council a full month to mull over the situation before taking a vote on which company the city will work with to determine the scope – if any – of future projects.

“It’s a big choice,” Miller said on Tuesday. “It’s a big commitment on the city’s part, and the citizens of Burlington.”

The Committee of the Whole and the City Council will discuss the matter at next month’s second council meeting, tentatively scheduled for Feb. 16 at 6:30 p.m.

Looking at the history

In the spring of 2014, Miller flat-out told the council it needed to decide whether or not it wanted to support a pool any longer.

“The future of the pool beyond this year is, as far as I’m concerned, very much in doubt,” he explained at a May meeting. The council did approve a $25,000 payment to pool to allow for much-needed cosmetic work, including new counters, flooring and changing rooms and bathroom stalls.

But while the cosmetic work improved the bathhouse, the bigger issue of the pool came to bear. Built in the 1960s, the pool is showing its age. At the very least, a new liner on top of the concrete base is needed, as well as other infrastructure work.

Many of the pool’s elements are original to the construction date.

During the summer, the Community Pool Board – which operates the facility with revenue from memberships and daily fees at no cost to taxpayers – held a fundraiser that brought in tens of thousands of dollars, and the Burlington Community Fund donated money for new lockers in the facility for lifeguards.

The pool gets annual contributions from the service clubs in Burlington. That money is earmarked for annual maintenance, but in some recent years, it has also had to cover shortfalls in operating revenue.

What the future holds?

While both firms that presented proposals to the city last week offered potential help in both building toward a referendum to cover costs of improvements, the question of just what those improvements should be remains to be answered.

Most of those answers would come from the firm that is hired to do the work leading up to repairs or replacement of the pool.

Alderman Tom Preusker said that he would have liked more direction along those lines before having to decide on a company. At last week’s council meeting, he expressed concern that the process had gotten ahead of itself.

However, the rest of the council – and Mayor Bob Miller – felt that the companies being looked at would study what the community would support and how to proceed.

An updated study on renovating the pool, including adding a zero-depth entry area and amenities such as waterslides, put the cost at $2.2 million. That number could go higher depending on the scope of the improvements and the amenities desired.

Even at a number exceeding $3 million, the change to the tax bill for an average-valued Burlington home is estimated at about $48 a year, Miller said.

He stressed Tuesday that part of the study would be to see if the community would support spending the money – before the project even went to referendum.

“We should have all that information prior to us even going to a referendum on this,” Miller said.

One thing appears agreed upon between council members and the mayor – a pool is something they all consider important for drawing people to the community.

“I think it’s a piece of the puzzle that helps set Burlington apart,” Alderman Ruth Dawidziak said. She also added that she liked the idea of going to referendum to ensure the community had its say before any project went forward.

Preusker said he and his family use the pool, but he wants to look with an eye toward the future with any project.

“I think it’s a good tool to attract people to come and live in the city,” he said. “I do think it’s a good quality of life thing.”

As for the potential hurdles of a price tag, he said, “I think it depends on what the price tag is.”

“Everyone who uses the pool knows it needs help,” Preusker said. “How big (a project it turns into) depends on what we want to do.”

The alderman added that he wanted to hear feedback from the people who are at the pool every day in the summer – the employees.

“They get a lot of feedback,” Preusker said, about what could be fixed or improved.

Miller said he has heard opinions on both sides of the aisle.

“What I have had is feedback both for a municipal pool … to ‘We have Browns Lake. We don’t need a pool.’”

“That’s one of the purposes of this study,” he added.