Costs range from $2.4 million to $5.4 million
By Bert Lehman
Meeting for the first time since January, the Clintonville Ad Hoc Pool Committee agreed to have Water Technologies Inc. (WTI) present three swimming pool proposals to the city council.
The committee plans to present the proposals at the council’s August meeting.
The presentation is designed to have the city council provide the pool committee with direction on how the council wants the committee to proceed.
When the pool committee met June 19, it reviewed the proposals that WTI had previously submitted to the committee. Committee member Stephanie Hintz shared those details with the committee.
A new swimming pool with all the “bells and whistles” is estimated to cost $5.4 million.
A “stripped down” version of that proposal would include a less elaborate splash pad, no slides and less landscaping. It is estimated to cost $3.2 million for the facility.
Rehabbing the current outdoor swimming pool is estimated to cost $2.4 million. The bathhouse renovations account for $1.5 million of that figure. The $2.4 million figure includes turning the current swimming pool into a zero-depth entry pool. The current kiddy pool would be eliminated from the facility under this plan. The plan would also allow for future expansion of the swimming pool facility as funding becomes available.
Clintonville Parks & Recreation Director Justin McAuly informed the committee that the estimate to remove the current outdoor swimming pool facility and reclaim the area is about $42,500.
“That’s for crushing it onsite and hauling it to our Public Works cold storage for recycling,” McAuly said.
That estimate does not include the cost of disconnecting electricity or water from the site, McAuly added.
That estimate was obtained from Go Green Recycling and Quarry out of Menasha.
Committee Chairman Brad Rokus recommended the committee develop a referendum question at some point in the future that contains clear and concise wording. He said the question should pertain to asking if residents are willing to pay for an outdoor swimming pool.
“I think what we kind of need to do through this group is come up with an option of what we think is affordable, what we think could potentially serve the community,” Rokus said.
Committee member Ryan Rockey told the committee she thinks the committee should present its findings to the city council first.
“Originally when they let us form this, our job was to get a plan and a figure and present it to council,” Rockey said.
That is what the committee ultimately decided to do.
Citizens forum
Martin McGlone from the town of Dupont addressed the committee about the current swimming pool site.
He said his children are in Clintonville’s Little League and T-Ball programs, and while at the park he discovered the current outdoor swimming pool had approximately 10 feet of water in it. He said it was also brought to city officials that there is a hole in the gate that allows children to get into the pool facility.
He shared photos with the committee that he said he had taken a couple days prior that showed the access gate open to the pool facility. He said he thinks having water in the pool and a gate open creates a liability to the city.
Three residents, one from Marion and two from Clintonville, addressed the committee about how a new swimming pool would be an asset to the community.
Clintonville resident Greg Rose added: “I hope that we can do something to get the pool operational again, whatever it takes to get the current one in. I know there’s some real pie-in-the-sky ideas out there as far as building new ones and so forth. Hopefully something can happen out of that.”