Pool committee gets green light

Thursday, September 10, 2020

McCOOK, Neb. — The McCook City Council added two requests to be included in the the 2020-21 city budget, before approving the budget Tuesday night.

Upon the request of Mayor Mike Gonzales, funds will be set aside in the budget next year to repair the steps at Memorial Auditorium. Repairs will be funded by the safety dividend funds the city receives each year from it’s liability insurance company. Public Works Director Kyle Potthoff said costs should be under $60,000. City sales tax money has already been included in the budget to repair the auditorium roof, at $72,000.

And, Mayor Gonzales asked that the pool committee present the council with costs to build and maintain a new city pool.

“It’s time for us as a council to tell the public whether we move forward or not,” Gonzales said. “We need to either approve that we move this forward or put it on the side and move to other projects.” He added there is $180,000 set aside in previous city budgets for the pool, from city sales tax receipts, to help with design/engineering costs.

In 2017, the committee chose an engineer who presented the council with different options and costs of a new pool. The council passed on taking any action at that time, citing capital improvement projects that needed to be funded.

Grant Norgaard, chairman of the pool committee, was present at the meeting upon the request of Gonzales. He told the council that the committee had met once over the summer via ZOOM and that he believed the community would benefit from a new pool. The current pool was built in 1937 and had served the community very well over the years, he said. When asked for a dollar amount, Norgaard said it would be under or about $5 million, roughly the same cost of the new municipal building the city built with city sales tax dollars.

Funding would come from a capital campaign, Norgaard said, along with funds from the city.

City Manager Nate Schneider said he’s talked to several representatives in towns who have recently constructed pools. In one town, the council first approved a plan for a pool and then approved fundraising to begin. After the fundraising campaign netted about $700,000, the council approved a ballot question to go before the voters about using city sales tax receipts for the rest of the funds needed. For McCook, a ballot measure could include raising the current city sales tax from 1.5% to 2 %, with .5 % of city sales tax revenue committed for a pool bond. Grants could also be used for funding.

All of the council seemed in agreement about getting more information from the pool committee. Council member Janet Hepp stressed the needed for facts and figures, saying there are a lot of unknowns at this point. “We need a starting point, there’s not enough information yet,” she said. Councilman Jerry Calvin agreed and said he’s not “moving forward one inch until I know everything you folks know,” referencing the pool committee.

Knowing the operating costs to maintain the pool is vital, Gonzales said, as the city shouldn’t be put into a financial bind. “There’s a lot of questions and we need definite answers,” he said. “Three years is too long to drag this out.”

Pool committee members are Jan Smith, Norma Stevens, Traci Taylor, Kim Tietz, Tracy Flaska, Chelsey Hartwell, Tom Wiemers, Grant Norgaard, Sherri Rothmeyer, Linda Frank, Jon and Ronda Graff, Charles Coleman and city staff, Jodi Crocker, Kyle Potthoff and Nate Schneider.

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