Pool-saving efforts continue
The Vandalia Park District Board agreed last week to take the first step toward substantial improvements to the Vandalia Municipal Swimming Pool.
Park commissioners decided to have an engineer look at the pool after hearing a report from the pool manager and a passionate plea from support of the facility.
At the start of last Thursday’s meeting, pool manager Lisa Robbins gave attendance figures for the summer and for recent years.
Robbins gave those numbers, she said, so park commissioners would have the correct information. That was in response to a comment made by park Superintendent Gary Oldham at the park board’s August meeting.
“I think you’d be better off to bite the bullet (and close it),” Oldham said last month, also stating he was against building a new pool.
“How can you justify a $2.5-million pool if you have 17 kids swimming?” he said.
Robbins made reference to that comment in reporting that the pool attendance for the season totaled 6,837.
In July, she said, the average daily attendance was 89, and in June, it was 136.
In each of the last three years, the average daily attendance was right around 100, she said.
Robbins also told park board members that the pool staff is continuing to raise money for pool improvements.
As of last Thursday, they had raised about $1,350 by selling footprints displayed at the pool, T-shirts and bracelets, she said.
Pool employees were working for tips at Sonic on Tuesday night, they will operate a stand at Vandalia’s Heritage Festival on Sept. 28, and Robbins said they are making plans for a haunted house.
Tuesday night, Robbins said that they had gotten permission from Fayette County officials to use the former Washington School for their haunted house.
She said the haunted house would be open Oct. 18-19 and 24-26.
Robbins asked that the park board allow the pool staff to have special event liability coverage on the park district’s insurance policy, and the board approved that request.
She said the pool staff is raising funds “to show that we are making an attempt” to work on pool improvements.
Robbins said last month that for the third year in a row, a state inspector has noted that improvements are much-needed.
“This is our third strike,” she said last month. “The park district must show that it’s going to make some improvements.”
After Robbins gave her report, local resident Kelly Klein read a statement in which she offered her support for the pool.
There are “those among us who would love to see that pool close,” she said. “You let things close, and it’s hard to bring them back.
“It’s a quality of life issue for this entire community,” Klein said, explaining that the pool plays an important role in children’s growth.
“It’s a facility that is a safe place for children to meet with their friends under supervised care.
“They learn to swim there, they learn discipline, they learn how to get along with others, they learn to how to respect their elders,” she said.
“The pool is not a business, it’s a service, just like the parks are a service, just like the walking trail is a service. So, we’re never going to make any money off of this,” Klein said.
“This pool makes memories.
“Don’t let the children of this community down just because you don’t want to do the work. Help us all, help this community by saving the pool,” Klein said.
She told board members that there is a feeling in the community that individual commissioners have their own priorities.
“Please send a message to the community that this is not the case,” Klein said.
“The airport, the ball diamonds … they all get their due – that’s fine and well,” Klein said, adding that all commissioners should come together for the pool.
“Don’t let the opinion of one person sway you from making the right choice,” she said, making a veiled reference to Oldham’s comments.
“How many of you are willing to step up and take this challenge because it’s the right thing to do?” Klein asked.
After Klein’s comments, Commissioner Steve Hawkins said that he had heard from 103 people about the pool. “All of them want it fixed and to look into another one.
“Not one of them wants it closed,” Hawkins said.
Commissioner Chad Feldpouch said, “I would like to get an engineer involved” to look at the structure.
He said he supports making the needed improvements to the pool, as opposed to razing the structure and building a new one.
“Three million dollars (for a new pool) is probably not going to happen,” he said.
Feldpouch said that local contract Rick Cripe estimated that the needed improvements would cost $100,000-$110,000.
“Even if it runs over $200,000, what’s that compared to $3 million,” he said.
“I just think it’s kind of out of the question to build a new one. We’re elected by the community and this (keeping the pool) is what they want,” Feldpouch said.
Hawkins said the pool should be treated like everything else in the park district. “When something gets broke, fix it,” he said.
Later in the meeting, when board President Chuck Hutson asked for comments or reports from individual commissioners, Hawkins spoke on two issues.
He first mentioned weeds growing in the ball diamonds at Kelley Park and Ruemmelin Park.
Hawkins then said that he had received complaints about restrooms in city parks, so he checked them out.
“I’ve got to agree with them. We’ve got the worst bathrooms in the area – it’s just atrocious,” he said, asking that they be cleaned prior to several special events.
Board members also discussed a letter from Denny Corbell, a Vandalia native who owns the former Lincoln School.
In the letter, Hutson said, Corbell was asking for increased support for the building from the community.
Local Scouts are among those using the building, due to the fact that the Evans Scout House has been deemed unsafe.
Hawkins asked why the Scout House can’t be used, and he was told that there are mold and termite issues.
That’s another instance, Hawkins said, of taking care of something when it needs attention.