LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport City Council voted on Tuesday night to fix the broken Westshore Pool pump and to continue to negotiate with the Lakeport Unified School District about sharing costs for the pool under an agreement between the city and district.
Public Works Director Mark Brannigan went to the council to ask for direction on how to handle the future operation of the pool.
While the school district owns the pool, for several years it has not contributed any funds to maintaining the facility – which it agreed to do under a 2004 agreement with the city – leaving the city to pay for the costs of the pool's upkeep.
Several years ago the city renovated the pool at a cost of $370,000, with $169,000 of that covered by a grant secured from the California State Parks Office of Grants and Local Services by the city of Lakeport. The rest of the money came from the city's general fund, Brannigan said.
Recently the pool's pump failed. “We're going to be getting a lot more of this,” Brannigan said regarding issues with pool equipment.
Brannigan reported during the meeting that replacing the pump is estimated to cost between $5,000 and $10,000.
The city operates the pool for the public from June to August, with the pool generally closed from September to February.
It's in February that the Channel Cats – some of whose members were in attendance for the meeting – begin using it for training, according to Brannigan. The team helps cover the cost of the propane to heat the pool and pays a $25 an hour rental cost.
Brannigan sent an email earlier this month to Lakeport Unified Superintendent Erin Hagberg, asking for the district to resume contributing funds to the pool's upkeep.
He said Hagberg asked for a meeting in December with city officials and the Channel Cats, but she did not indicate if the district is willing to share costs for the pool.
Mayor Tom Engstrom asked when the school district last participated in paying for the pool. City Manager Margaret Silveira estimated it was four to five years ago.
Brannigan said former Lakeport Police Chief Kevin Burke – while he was doing double duty as interim city manager – received a letter from the district saying they would no longer participate in paying for the pool costs, citing hardships.
“How binding is this agreement?” Engstrom asked of the city's contract with the school district.
Interim City Attorney David Ruderman said it was a valid contract that the school board approved with the city.
“The question is, what remedy would the city have to enforce it short of filing breach of contract,” said Ruderman.
Engstrom noted during the meeting that there already had been a meeting about the pool that included a few city council members, city staff and school board members.
“They had other priorities, and the pool was not one of them,” he said of the message that city officials got from the school district at the meeting.
“At this point we're trying to get back to who's really supposed to be doing what,” said Council member Stacey Mattina, adding she wanted to see if the city and school can get back to the terms of the original contract.
Public Works Superintendent Doug Grider said that a survey done during the summer season showed that of those children who used the pool, 60 percent were from the county, 35 percent were from the city and 5 percent from out of the county.
Silveira said the county has contributed $5,000 a year for the last three years toward the pool, which Councilman Kenny Parlet called “a pittance” compared to the percent of out-of-city children who use the pool.
Brannigan said the expense goes beyond the dollars spent for upkeep and includes staff time for pool maintenance. It also was reported during the discussion that, at one point, the school district had considered having its staff work on maintaining the pool.
He said he anticipates more expenses ahead. “We know there is some substantial cost coming up, and how are we going to pay for that?”
Parlet said the pool pump needed to be fixed, regardless. “I think that's the prudent thing to do,” he said, explaining he didn't want the pool to deteriorate.
He moved to fix the pump, with Councilman Marc Spillman seconding and the council voting 5-0.
Separately, the council gave staff direction to continue working with the school district in an effort to reach a cost-sharing agreement.
“I'd just like to see us do everything we can to keep that pool open,” said Engstrom. “We live on a lake, for crying out loud, and kids need to know how to swim.”
In other news, the council heard updates on the Downtown Improvement Project and got a report on the fourth quarter of the city's 2012-13 budget.
There also was no action reported out of what Engstrom called a closed session “training” the council held with Lakeport Police personnel regarding what the agenda said was “a threat to public services or facilities.”
Editor's note: The story originally quoted Brannigan as saying the grant that helped renovate the pool totaled $140,000 and had been secured by the Channel Cats. City officials have since reported that the grant was for $169,000 and was secured through the efforts of the city of Lakeport.
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