Borough Council Undecided on What it Will Do With Pool; Will Make Decision By July 12

The Borough Council has concluded that it will make a decision on the fate of its Memorial Park municipal pool by its July 12 meeting. But until then, there's sure to be plenty of debate on the matter.

The pool is old and in dire need of repairs, whch could cost the borough roughly $250,000, according to estimates provided by council members. The Memorial Park and Pool Committee has explored various options, and has looked at potentially closing the pool. At Monday's Borough Council meeting, several residents pleaded with the council to keep the pool. Several children got into the act as well.

"Would you like people to come in and take away your pool when you've swum in it since you were a kid?" asked young Madison Roos. She was reading a letter written by her sixth-grade brother Dylan Roos.

The pool will be open this season, but its status for 2011 is in question. Council members insisted at the meeting that no decision had yet been made regarding the matter.

Residents said they have formed a group called "Friends of the Memorial Park Pool" and are in the process of circulating a petition in support of keeping the pool open.

They noted that the $250,000 repairs would cost each household, on average, about $15.

"It would be a shame if Chatham Borough didn't have a pool for its residents," Anna Tivade said, as two children played by her side. "For many people, acquatic exercise is the only form."

Last year, the borough repaired some piping in the pool, and Borough Engineer Vince DeNave said there have consistently been leaks within the structure that need to be repaired on an ongoing basis. The kiddie pool on site will also soon need to be replaced, and that will cost $60,000.

But resident Sandy Roos suggested the council look at potentially using private funding—such as a grant from the Chatham Athletic Foundation—to finance the project. She also said the pool should consider having a board of trustees, something that she said could have prevented "40 years of neglect."

Martin Selzer, who is a member of the park and pool committee, asked council members to tell the public whether they supported keeping the pool open. Councilman Bruce Harris said the council is still getting information from the pool committee on the matter.

Councilman James Lonergan, who is on the pool committee, said it's very unlikely the council will decide to build a brand-spanking new pool in a different area. Such a project would likely cost $3 million, and he said the council will not decide to spend that kind of money.

The borough could potentially look to do some sort of shared service with the township that would allow the two sides to jointly build a pool in the deep end of where the township's Colony Pool now sits (that pool resembles a lake and does not look like a pool in the classic sense).

It may also look to build a new pool on site, but such a move would cost upwards of $350,000 and would be bonded out, meaning that over the life of the bond it would cost considerably more (around the $600,000 range).

Council President James Collander said the borough has been making small but necessary repairs to its pool with money taken from a $480,000 fund that is intended for improvements to the pool and Memorial Park as a whole. He said the council needs to be careful to not use too much of the excess funds for the pool, since it is intended for the park as well.

"As far as I'm concerned, all options are still on the table at this point," Collander said.

But he said he didn't have a good sense of whether the community, as a whole, was in favor of keeping the pool. The pool committee surveyed borough residents on the matter, but Collander said he felt the survey hadn't clearly defined what residents thought about the matter because it wasn't specific enough. He said the borough could consider releasing an additional electronic survey to residents.

He also noted that lots of borough residents are members of Colony Pool or Madison's municipal pool.

Regardless, council members said, they have a difficult decision to make.

"We're not here to close the pool and make everyone's life miserable, but we have to look at the whole picture," Collander said.

He noted that both the police department and the Department of Public Works are understaffed, in part because of budget cuts (the council adopted its $13.8 million budget, which contains a $7.3 million tax levy, at the meeting).

Roos said she felt at times as if the pool is the "black sheep" of Chatham's so-called recreation family—there is no way to sign up for a membership on the Chatham Recreation Web site, even though people can sign up for Colony Pool and other recreation programs on the site.

Lonergan, though, said he wants to ensure that Chatham's parks, as a whole, are in the best shape possible. He envisions Memorial Park as a place where seniors can walk and enjoy the atmosphere, a place that includes bocce courts and other acoutrements—and he said such things need to be considered alongside pool renovations.

And because the borough is "deep in the bone" of its budget, as he put it, making such choices will become increasingly difficult.

But Selzer said the pool is an important part of the borough's parks.

"There are a lot of people in this town that believe this vision includes the pool," he said.

Borough council members said they would like to make a decision on the pool's fate by a July 12 meeting.