Urgency For New Pool Fundraising Being Felt
03 Sep 2010 - ( Front Page )
By Amy Kraner
The fundraising efforts to build a new community aquatic and community center have taken on a sense of urgency, which was made public at the P&R Board meeting August 25.
A lengthy discussion between the park board and members of the executive committee of the pool task force highlighted the need to finish fundraising quickly and get started on operational plans and the hiring of critical staff members.
The task force has raised $5.1 million towards its goal of $6 million, which includes a $1 million endowment.
Pool task force member Joe Messer said, “We’re 85 percent of the way there with fundraising. One of the large donors has said they want the endowment in place before ground breaking. We have enough money right now to build it, but we don’t have enough to build and fund the endowment.”
Another major donor, the Mary K. Peabody Foundation, reportedly wouldn’t mind if they break ground before the endowment is fully funded. However, the Foundation has a limited amount time left. The Peabody Foundation was never intended to retain its funds indefinitely, a request made by Mary K. Peabody, and their current license through the state ends September 30.
The task force has until mid September to tell the Foundation it’s ready to go.
The best case scenario would be to finish fundraising before that date. Discussions with major donors are ongoing to determine what will happen to the pool project if fundraising would fall short.
Messer said in a phone interview, “The major donors are committed to this project, and they want to see this pool built. This is the final big push.”
He added, “The sense of urgency is very high, not only to get the fundraising completed, but also to see the facility built in time for the swim season in winter 2011. It’s a goal the task force has had since the beginning.”
For that to happen, deconstruction of the old pool building needs to start this fall and construction complete by early next winter.
Strong community support for the new pool is a critical piece of the campaign.
The funds raised for the project have come from 144 donors, including 60 college students who completed a fundraising effort during their business class last spring and a boy who gave 17 cents at FunFest. Messer said he believes that in a town of 6,000 residents, there are many more people who want to see the pool built. He added that those who have the ability to give should do so now.
He said, “I had someone once tell me ‘The hardest dollar to raise is the first, and the second hardest dollar is the last.’ That has definitely been the case.”
As fundraising draws to a close, the pool task force is looking to hand the project over to the P&R Board, which will run the new facility. They recently heard from Steve Jungbauer, the former
chief executive officer of the Kosciusko Community YMCA, on services he is offering to help the P&R Board get the facility up and running.
Messer said, “The first thing he said was, ‘If you guys want a pool up and running in a year, you’re way behind on your operational stuff. You should have started six months ago.’ We realized how much there is to do.”
Questions from residents, the architects, and pool consultants all prompted the task force to refer Jungbauer to the P&R Board. The questions ranged from when the pool will open, to the cost of memberships, to what kind of filtration systems they want in the pools.
Task force member and Town Council president
Chris Garber said, “The task force was starting to move into areas we weren’t set up to handle. We’re nearing the end of our job and we need to find a way to make this transition [to the park board and the opening of the pool.]”
Messer said to the P&R Board, “You’re going to have a multi-million dollar facility to manage with a staff of 30 people. There is a tidal wave coming at you when this thing gets up and going. I wouldn’t want to have to manage ten times the amount of people with no notice or a facility that is more complex than the last. Steve has experience with all of this.”
The P&R Board agreed to interview Jungbauer, who offered to work as a consultant for 18 months at the cost of $6,500 a month. Several board members favored the idea of hiring him in October and until a new P&R director is hired and settled at the department, or for perhaps three months.
P&R Board member Michelle Barnett stated that she had a problem with the amount of money the new facility will cost the town to operate beyond the revenue it brings in, which is estimated at $200-250,000 per year. The old facility cost the town the same amount.
The total budget for the town is $3,924,478, of which about a third is supported by property taxes. Operating the new facility would require 6 percent of the total budget.
There would be no increase to the town budget or taxes, because the P&R department budget was never reduced after the old pool closed, so the money to operate a facility is still part of the budget.
Barnett said, “The last several months I have been struggling with this operational deficit number in a really big way. The $250,000 is based on a 12 percent usage rate, when the last pool had a 5 percent usage rate. We would be serving such a small percentage of the community with such a large amount of taxpayer money.”
She asked the pool task force and the board to reconsider the size of the design. Several members stated that it was too late to do so.
Board member Susan Siebrase said, “At this point, I feel we are way past this. We need to be looking for a director of park and recreation and talking about the consultant, and what that director is going to need. It makes my stomach drop to think of going back and rehashing the design.”
Barnett proposed possibly cutting the warm water pool and several other items to lower the cost of the project and the operational costs.
P&R Interim Director Anne Myers said, “We’ve been told all along,
the fitness center is the money-maker, the warm pool is the generator and the lap pool is the loser. If we cut back, we would be losing the opportunity for the revenue that would be generated by the other two.”
Board President Weebe Naragon responded, “What is planned now is for a community center, and it’s what the major donors want. I looked at this pool as an economic development asset for our town, something that would bring people to live here.”
Barnett said that she would resign from the board if the project goes forward as is.
“I’m not on board with this particular facility. I would be doing a disservice staying on the board when I’m not passionate about this plan,” she said.
Garber reiterated that Town Council is behind the new facility and prepared to support it. He added that the council and the P&R Board should schedule a combined meeting to get the board up to speed to take over the project.
“This discussion [on the cost of operations] was six months ago, and it was over and over. It’s been debated in our group and taken to town council to ask for support many times. Every time we said, ‘Do you realize this is going to take $250,000 a year to operate?’ the council all said, ‘Yes, let’s do it,’” Garber said.
The next monthly meeting of the P&R Board will be Wednesday, September 29, at 5:30 p.m.