Council urged not to forget pool upgrades

McCOOK, Neb. — A member of the McCook Pool Committee urged the McCook City Council to keep the city pool on their radar.

“Not a day goes by when I’m not asked about the pool,” Ronda Graff told the council at its regular meeting Monday night during the public comment portion of the meeting.

While acknowledging that resources are tight and that constructing/renovating the pool would require a large financial outlay, Graff also said the pool is a vital resource to keep the community thriving.

She cited smaller near-by communities that are already getting on board with their pools, such as Cambridge, where voters recently approved a bond to improve their pool, Culbertson, where upgrades have been underway for several years and the water parks/pool at Colby and Oberlin, Kan.

Whether it’s a renovation or new construction of the pool, this is an opportunity for the city to get behind an important asset for the community, she said.

The 81-year old McCook City Pool was built in 1937 with an addition in the 1960s and upgrades in 2002. In 2017, the McCook Pool Committee heard presentations from several firms concerning design, construction and fundraising aspects for the pool and presented these options to the McCook City Council. Costs started at $3.5 to $4 million, depending on whether it was new construction and the type of renovations.

City Manager Nate Schneider has said in the past that any decision to construct or renovate the pool would go to the voters for approval. This would likely include using potential sales tax revenue or other voter-approved measures.

Projects using city sales tax dollars that were approved by voters in the recent past is the city municipal building. That building, that houses city staff, city police and city fire departments, took seven years to pay off, with the final payment this year. Voters approved a $3.75 million bond, paid off with annual payments of $600,000 in city sales tax revenue. There was also $1.5 million in city sales tax receipts on-hand that was used. An additional $30,000 was budgeted for bond interest and LB840 funds were budgeted at $75,000, for the total approximate cost of $5.3 million.

Also speaking during public comments was Jamie Mockry, director of the McCook Area Chamber of Commerce, who thanked Kyle Potthoff, McCook City Public Works director, for installing Santa Claus lane on the Norris Avenue islands.