Funding arrangements continue for Winamac’s swimming pool rebuilding project.
A fund at the Community Foundation of Pulaski County has been collecting donations for the effort for the past several months. At its previous meeting, the Winamac Park Board gave preliminary approval to an agreement that would give the board jurisdiction over that money.
On Thursday, Town Attorney Justin Schramm said that Park Board President Courtney Poor has signed the agreement. It’s now waiting for approval from the Community Foundation’s Board of Directors.
However, Poor says he wants some clarification about the pool’s ongoing costs. “I want to have a swimming pool here so bad I can taste it, and I see all the work that has gone into this,” he said. “But I do not want to have a swimming pool that cannot be maintained because the money isn’t there. That is the impetus of my entire question right there. Yeah, I think we can get it built, but if we can’t maintain it, why are we building it? That’s my concern, and I think that due diligence needs to be done.”
During the board’s previous meeting, town manager and park board member Brad Zellers estimated the town used to budget about $40,000 a year to maintain its old pool. The new pool is expected to cost significantly less to maintain, since it will be shallower and use newer equipment.
Meanwhile, Clerk-Treasurer Melanie Berger researched Monticello’s pool budget. She says the city budgeted $137,000 last year for the operation of its pool. However, that pool is not considered comparable to the one planned for Winamac. Berger plans to research communities and pool projects that are more similar to Winamac’s.
