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Still no decisions on Clintonville’s outdoor pool

City has insurance money from 2015 fire

By Bert Lehman


The city of Clintonville continues to discuss the future of its outdoor swimming pool, but moves no closer to making any decisions.

After concerns were brought up at a recent parks and recreation committee meeting about funds not being set aside for the city’s outdoor swimming pool, the topic was addressed at the Oct. 15 finance committee meeting.

Committee Chairman Jim Supanich asked Clintonville City Administrator Sharon Eveland if there are grants opportunities available for the outdoor swimming pool.

“There is money out there for just about anything,” Eveland said. “It’s whether or not we can find it and whether or not we can get awarded.”

She said a Community Development Block grant would be a possibility, but the city is eligible for only one.

“If we go after it, we have to go after it for our streets,” Eveland said.

She added that the city has put money aside in the city’s operating budget each of the last two years for the swimming pool.

“That’s built into the budget, and I would caution at this moment in time, until council has taken action as to whether they’re going to do this [pool renovation],” Eveland said. “I would caution against any recommendations on allocating additional funds for that.”

Committee member Brad Rokus asked for clarification as to the status of the insurance money the city received after the 2015 fire at the swimming pool facility.

Eveland said that money has not been spent by the city and is still reserved for a swimming pool project.

She added that approximately $35,000 has been set aside the last two years in the city’s operating budget for the swimming pool.

“We’ll do another [budgeting of funds]. Right now I think it’s $10,000 in the 2019 budget designated for the pool,” Eveland said.

Committee member Brandon Braden asked how much effort has been done in trying to find alternative funding options for the swimming pool.

“I’d love to have the outdoor pool, but it’s a pretty significant purchase when we’re worrying about whether we can replace equipment to maintain our streets or any a number of things down the road when we have a pool at the high school that is open to anyone who purchases a pass,” Braden said.

Supanich said he is in favor of an outdoor pool, but only after the city takes steps to improve city streets and infrastructure.

“If we don’t have streets and infrastructure, everything else is kind of not a priority,” Supanich said.

Braden asked if the city considered a referendum question to get the opinion from residents.

“We discussed referendum questions quite a bit and the problem is verbiage,” said Rokus, who also chaired the city’s ad hoc committee regarding the outdoor swimming pool.

He said a finalized plan is needed before a referendum can occur.

He added that once in the past, the council did approve a referendum but could not agree on the wording of the referendum question.

The city’s swimming pool was also on the agenda of the Oct. 16 Clintonville City Council meeting.

After Mayor Richard Beggs informed the council that the insurance money is in a fund reserved for the swimming pool, Supanich asked if the city should research what grants are available that would offset a portion of the cost of refurbishing the swimming pool.

“I believe that we can find a grant. … However, having said that, they’re all matching grants,” Beggs said. “It’s not going to pay for the pool. It will pay for a portion of it. We have to come up with the rest of it.

“For that reason I think we need to ask for significant donations from our population, our industries. They’re not going to be happy about that. And some of it’s going to have to be tax money if we’re going to do it. But it’s going to be a three-pronged approach.”

Clintonville resident Mary Beth Kuester addressed the council. She requested the city have a referendum to find out what the public wants.

“We have a long way to go before we can talk about a referendum,” Beggs said. “You can’t have a referendum unless you know what you want to do and how much it’s going to cost. That’s a ways down the road.”

No further discussion took place regarding the swimming pool or what the next step would be.

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