The Winamac Park Board was authorized to start researching options for a splash pad after Town Council members voted 3-1 to eliminate the pool project from future consideration Monday night.
When the Pool Committee met with town officials in a special session last month, members were asked to come up with some more solid figures for long-term maintenance.
At this week’s town council meeting, Councilwoman Judy Heater shared some of the details that were gathered with the help of Town Manager Brad Zellers about the cost of chemicals, staffing the pool with life guards and additional expenses for upkeep.
They found that an additional cost of approximately $40,000
As a reminder, the initial estimate for construction and engineering services is about $1,145,386. The committee currently has $149,145.65 at the Pulaski County Community Foundation that’s been set aside for this purpose.
Supporters of the pool project felt that the town providing their support once again would allow the committee members to apply for a grant and approach more donors and business owners with confidence.
Committee members noted that they never had a chance to approach bigger businesses before the town pulled their support so they felt there’s a lot of untapped potential for larger donations from those places.
Clerk-Treasurer Melanie Berger mentioned some concerns that she has that keep the pool project from being financially feasible.
She explained, “My concern – and I’m not against the pool I think it’d nice to have something like that in town – but on a financial basis, on behalf of the Town of Winamac currently with the issues that we have with income tax issues, we cannot financially afford it.”
The consensus from the members, other than Heater, was that the amount that still needs to be raised for construction and engineering, which is well over half a million dollars, is unobtainable at this point in time.
They also indicated that there wasn’t enough solid proof that there will be funds for yearly expenses such as staffing, maintenance
To hear more from this meeting, tune into tomorrow’s Kankakee Valley Viewpoint program at noon, right here on K99.3 WKVI.
