PORT ANGELES — An expansion might be in the works for William Shore Memorial Pool.
Pool officials have asked Clallam County for a $39,960 grant to pay for a study of preliminary design options to enlarge the aquatic center at 225 E. Fifth St.
The project would pump more than $3 million into the local economy and support 17 new jobs, pool officials said in an application for the Opportunity Fund grant.
County Commissioner and pool district board member Mike Chapman said the project is “years away.”
“We probably are starting backwards,” Chapman said in the commissioners’ work session Monday.
“It probably should be a request coming through the William Shore Memorial Poll district board. I think the [pool] board needs to weigh in, and they really haven’t.”
Steve Burke, executive director of William Shore Memorial Pool, could not attend the work session because he was serving as a Port of Port Angeles commissioner in an overlapping meeting.
Sent to board
While no county commissioner objected to the grant request, the item was referred to the William Shore Memorial Pool district board for review.
The pool board’s next meeting will be April 26.
Because Chapman and Commissioner Bill Peach are also pool district board members, an attorney for the pool district will be asked to resolve potential conflicts of interest.
“I think one of us is going to have to recuse ourselves on the pool end, and one of us is going to have to recuse ourselves on this end,” Chapman said.
“It seems like we probably should take it back to the pool district just to work out kind of these logistics and make sure the full pool district board wants to move forward with this request.”
The Opportunity Fund is a portion of state sales tax that supports infrastructure and economic development in rural areas.
Grant recommended
After interviewing Burke on Jan. 28, the Opportunity Fund Advisory Board unanimously recommended the grant for a preliminary design options study.
The fund has a balance of $268,295 of budgeted spending authority and $1.5 million in remaining cash, County Administrator Jim Jones said in an executive summary to the grant request.
“We really need to start at the pool district so we can work out the whole conflict-of-interest issue,” Chapman said.
“I’m neutral because I don’t know what side of the fence I’m voting on.”
With 83,000 visits per year, William Shore Memorial Pool is at or over capacity, Burke said in a Jan. 5 letter to Clallam County Economic Development Council Executive Director Bill Greenwood.
The estimated cost of the expansion would be $5 million to $6 million.
“Our district has available bond funding up to $6 million without having to go to voters for approval of a bond measure,” Burke wrote.
“In order to issue a bond for the cost of expansion, the district must provide preliminary design plans and construction cost estimates for the expansion project.”
Last week, commissioners approved a $731,705 Opportunity Fund grant that will allow the Sequim Aquatic Recreation Center to reopen under the management of the Olympic Peninsula YMCA.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.