By Jennifer Eisenbart
Editor
As next week’s general election inches closer, City of Burlington Alderman Jon Schultz jokingly painted a picture of what the polls in Burlington could be like.
“I have no idea what will happen with the pool,” Schultz said Tuesday night, laughing a little while harkening back to olden days of people with torches and pitchforks.
While he doubts anything will be that dire – presidential candidates creating firestorms or not – he does have his questions about the viability of Burlington Community Pool and the planning process so far.
“I’m skeptical,” Schultz said. “I am not pleased with this process.
“I think the ongoing management plan is probably the most critical part of this,” he added. “It’s easy to build a pool. It’s really, really hard to keep it viable after five or 10 or 20 years.”
Schultz’s view is in contrast to many city officials and citizens who have gone on the record with their support of the pool. Financially, that support is already being felt to the tune of $200,000 in the maintenance fund the Community Pool Board has set up.
Among those offering their support is Keith Pollek, the President and CEO at Fox River State Bank. The bank has pledged $25,000 to the maintenance fund, and Pollek said he and his wife would be pledging an undisclosed amount.
The reason? The pool is vital to drawing younger generations of people to Burlington.
“It’s going to attract and retain people … primarily people with children,” Pollek said. “I think the vitality of the Burlington community is that we continue to attract younger families.
“You’ve got younger people who bring their talents and their abilities, blending with all other age groups,” he added.
The proposed pool project, set not-to-exceed $5.4 million for the purpose of the referendum, endeavors to offer a pool for all ages. A zero-depth entry and splash area is set up for children, while slides, a diving well and potentially a water climbing wall would appeal to all ages.
There will also be a current channel for water walking, and lap lanes are planned as well.
However, there have been questions among the City Council members who will ultimately have to approve the project. Schultz has questioned at meetings whether the pool will be affordable to all, openly calling for free days for the public.
Alderman Tom Preusker has questioned some of the features of the pool, notably the cost of the current channel at $200,000.
All that criticism is a matter of open record at City Council meetings. But in talking to various city officials, there is also a great deal of optimism.
Alderman Bob Grandi, the City Council’s representative to the Pool Board, can’t go on the record as a council member, but has expressed his personal support of the pool.
So has Mayor Jeannie Hefty.
“Being that I am a mother, and a grandmother, and a city taxpayer, I look at what this pool brought all these years,” Hefty said, adding that the community came together to fund the original pool in the 1960s.
She also restated the position Pollek did, saying the city needs something to draw people to it.
“We have to have amenities in this city, to attract families here,” she said. “They’re going around us.”
The question that has been asked, though, is whether the pool is the answer – and whether it will continue to be so down the road. The pool management plan, while commissioned in August when the referendum question was approved, is not yet finished, and City Administrator Carina Walters confirmed Tuesday night that it would not be available before Tuesday’s election.
“My expectation was it would be finished beforehand,” Schultz said.
Without that, Schultz finds himself in a difficult position.
“I want to support the pool,” said Schultz, who points out that he fits the demographic, living just three blocks away and having four boys. “I think $5 million is a lot of money for a 10-week season.”
Grandi, meanwhile, comes at it from the opposite point of view.
“It’ll be great for the community, in a lot of different ways,” he said.
That said, he respects all the viewpoints.
“Each person has to make that personal decision themselves,” he said.
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