More than a dozen residents from the Athens area spoke at Monday night’s council meeting to express their dissatisfaction with the city’s plans for the renovation of the public pool.
Tensions ran high at Monday night’s council meeting, leading to a short verbal dispute between Athens Mayor Paul Wiehl and a Guysville resident.
More than a dozen people from around the Athens area spoke at the meeting in response to plans to renovate the Athens City pool.
“I apologize for the outburst,” Wiehl said to council members later at the meeting. “I think there’s a lot of misinformation going on with the pool, but take your time.”
Plans for the project began earlier this year after voters approved of a 0.1 percent tax increase last November to fund Athens City Arts Parks and Recreation. A $7.3 million design was presented to the Arts Parks and Recreation department advisory board earlier this month.
Despite earlier discussion of funding both an indoor and an outdoor pool, it is unclear whether the current design will also include plans for a year-round indoor pool.
“It’s my understanding that the interest of council was not simply to fund a replacement pool but to provide for the needs of Arts, Parks and Recreation and the needs of the community,” Councilwoman Jennifer Cochran, D-at large, said. “I believe what the community voted for was a year round facility. (For) most of the people that I’ve spoken to, that’s a major concern.”
Todd Swearingen of Guysville, said he believed the report outlining possible plans for the pool from the Recreation Advisory Board was biased, and recommended a citizen advisory board be formed to aid in the decision-making process.
“I have a strong belief that a lot of inaccurate information has led to this process,” he said.
He also said the city was moving too hastily into a decision that would be irreversible for several decades.
“This is a legacy that’s going to last 40 to 50 years,” Swearingen said. “We’re going to dead by the time they build a new pool in Athens. All of us. This is too fast. It’s too soon.”
{{tncms-asset app="editorial" id="65e09d04-3187-11e5-9ee8-d76fd23d9c78"}}
Other residents voiced similar concerns. Athens resident Ed Newman recommended the issue be sent back to the voters instead of “being stuck with an idea that sucks.”
Council members and residents also offered alternative solutions, such as having an indoor pool with a retractable roof, or building the pool indoors but leaving the kid-friendly “splash zone” outside.
Later at the meeting, after the other residents spoke, Swearingen took the podium again arguing that the voters were promised an indoor pool.
Wiehl then asked Swearingen if he, being a Guysville resident, voted for the levy.
“Does it matter?” Swearingen said.
Council President, Chris Knisely asked both Wiehl and Swearingen to end their dialogue.
“This is not a debate, and we have to move on with the rest of the council meeting,” she said.
Ric Abel, former mayor and current chair of the Recreation Advisory Board, said the board has to be careful not to use up too much of the money generated from the levy too quickly.
An indoor swimming pool would likely result in a $120,000 loss per year for the city, he said.
He added that since the language of levy did not explicitly mention the construction of an indoor pool, the city might need to pass new legislation.
Any ballot initiative for this year’s November election must be approved by the County Board of Elections by the end of August.
{{tncms-asset app="editorial" id="de358bc4-30c0-11e5-aa85-63b267a289cc"}}
Wiehl noted that the project, which was estimated to be completed by next July, was already running behind schedule.
“The hope was we’d be moving forward at this time and that we’d have a design and engineering plan approved,” he said.
Council also passed two pieces of legislation at the meeting.
One ordinance will allow Wiehl to apply for grants from the State Capital Improvement Program or Local Transportation Improvement Program.
The other ordinance adopted the city’s new natural hazard mitigation plan.
Council will hold a special session Tuesday at noon in order to approve of additional legislation before the body goes on hiatus for the month of August.
They will also likely hold another special session later in the week.
“This will just be another meeting for the things we need to get another reading on,” Wiehl said.
@wtperkins
wp198712@ohio.edu
