On one front, there is the “quick fix” of the existing pool.
On the other, a bond issue to build a new one.
Since the town committed $55,000 toward the “quick fix” on June 14, new details have emerged about the school district’s commitment to the pool, as well as how the $20,000 generated by the Brett Keisel autograph session is to be spent.
Supt. Roger Clark has set the price tag of the “quick fix” at approximately $95,000, which would be enough to simply get the doors open — and fill the void until a new pool can be built.
The day after the town made its $55,000 pledge, Clark went to work trying to identify money from the current budget and the next fiscal year’s budget that could be earmarked for the pool.
He came up with about $30,000 — $6,000 from the current budget, and the remaining $24,000 from the line item set aside for major maintenance within the next fiscal year’s budget.
“That brings us up to $85,000, and with that, we should be able to pull this off,” he said on Tuesday.
Operation and maintenance remains a major stumbling block.
School board and steering committee members had hoped to be able to roll future operation and maintenance costs of the new pool this fall’s bond issue.
That is no longer an option.
 “I visited with our legal counsel; we cannot bond for O&M,” he said.
Moving forward, the O&M figures to be a key issue, he said.
“We have some ideas and hope to visit with local government entities in this part of the county about how we might secure that,” said Clark. “Once we apply the fix …and then, if we were to build a new building and citizens were to support a bond issue … what are we going to do to support O&M in the future.
Clark said the district’s architects are working on proposals for the short-term fix as well as conceptual plans for a new pool, and that he is scheduled to meet with them on June 29.
New pool
Jerry Ewen, chair of the steering committee, said the $20,000 generated by the Keisel fundraiser was a topic of conversation at the last meeting.
Pat Johnson, Brett’s mother-in-law and one of the organizers of the event, attended the meeting and stated that the Keisels would prefer that the $20,000 be put toward a new pool, rather than the quick fix of the old one.
“We’re not wanting to tap into that quite yet,” said Clark, adding that it could be used to pay costs associated with getting the plans put together or the issue on the ballot, which can be an expensive undertaking.
Ewen said the steering committee is working on ideas for fundraisers, but that nothing has been finalized.