Pool to close? Port Angeles City Council to discuss budget matters Wednesday
By Tom Callis, Peninsula Daily News
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City officials would not say if pool closure is among the recommendations that staff members will make to the City Council at a special work session on the preliminary 2009 budget at 5 p.m. Wednesday.
Mayor Gary Braun said he had not received an agenda as of Friday, and didn't know if the pool was on it.
But pool manager Jayna Lafferty said that she was told on Thursday that the pool could be closed Dec. 31 or June 30 to cut city expenses.
"I was stunned," Lafferty said.
"Pools don't make money, so it's always in the back of your mind.
"I never thought it would hit this close to home."
And some swimmers, several of whom phoned the Peninsula Daily News with their concerns, plan to attend that meeting.
"I don't know if we will get an opportunity to speak, but we will be noisy," said Ann Snell, 87.
The Port Angeles City Council work session will be in Council Chambers in City Hall at 321 E. Fifth St.
Glenn Cutler, public works director, said Friday that he wouldn't comment on what city staff members are proposing to be cut next year, because the proposals were still in draft form.
'A number of areas'
"We will be making recommendations on a number of different areas," Cutler said.
"That can include everything and anything."
City spokeswoman Teresa Pierce said that everything the city funds would be a possible topic of discussion.
"To specially point out the pool is not correct," she said.
She emphasized that the meeting is a preliminary discussion.
Its purpose is to "develop a consensus of adjustments to balance the 2009 Preliminary Budget, which will then be subject to future City Council public hearings and review," Pierce said in a notice of the meeting.
No public comment will be taken at Wednesday's work session, she said.
Public hearings on the 2009 budget will be held on Nov. 4 and Nov. 18, as well as Dec. 2 when the budget is expected to be adopted by the City Council, she said.
Gaps in funds
Cutler said all of the city departments have the task of identifying ways to bridge the gap in funds.
In August, City Finance Director Yvonne Ziomkowski estimated that the city faces a $1.5 million budget shortfall for 2009.
The pool opened in May 1962 after voters approved a $300,000 bond issue in November 1961, and was expected to last for 40 years.
A $13.8 million bond issue to replace the pool was turned down by voters in November 2006.
Lafferty said the pool's expenses are approximately $500,000 a year, which comes from the city's general fund.
The pool accumulates about $120,000 a year in revenue from pool passes, swimming lessons, pool rentals and swim teams, she said.
Lafferty said she will recommend that city officials increase pool fees to keep it open.
About 60,000 people use the pool annually, Lafferty said.
Attendance has grown every month this year, she added.
"The amount of people it serves is phenomenal for this size of town," Lafferty said.
Closure is being considered for the only public pool in Port Townsend because of climbing costs of utilities.
In Forks, an aquatic center funded by a bond remains closed for lack of operating funds.
Swimmers concerned
Closing the Port Angeles pool could leave the Port Angeles High School swim and dive teams, as well as the Port Angeles Swim Club and the Coast Guard rescue swimmers without a pool to use to train in Clallam County, she said.
Lafferty said the closest pool outside Port Angeles is the Sequim Aquatic Recreation Center, which doesn't allow swim teams to use the facility.
"It would be a huge loss," she said.
Tracey Moore, Port Angeles Swim Club president agreed.
"This is a big concern to us," she said.
"We really don't have an option."
Emily Borries, a senior at Port Angeles High School who is on the swim team, said swimming is one of the biggest sports at the school.
"It's ridiculous that they would want to take something like this away," she said.
Moore also said the Sequim pool doesn't allow swim teams to practice, and the Port Townsend pool is five yards short of being a "legal pool" for meets put on by USA Swimming.
This means they couldn't use lap times in the pool to qualify for the meets, she said.
Moore said the swim club has between 40 and 75 members, of ages 5 through 18, throughout the year.
The city should consider absorbing the costs if it has to, in order to keep the pool open, said Peter Van Rossen, coach of the Port Angeles High School dive team and Port Angeles Swim Club.
Van Rossen said swimming is a gateway to college for some of the kids on his teams.
"All of a sudden, that would be completely eliminated for kids," he said.
Van Rossen said the pool also provides low-impact exercise to the elderly in the community.
"We're turning people into swimmers at age 80," he said.
Snell said she began using the pool in 1977 for physical therapy to heal a torn ligament.
"It's a wonderful exercise," she said.
"I would be using a cane without it."
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
Last modified: September 20. 2008 9:00PM