Pool meeting brings questions about future

Colfax Mayor Todd Vanek discusses the fate of the Colfax swimming pool last Thursday at a public meeting. Michael Cochran, Colfax resident, is seated.

Last Thursday night's public meeting on the future of the Colfax swim pool generated several questions from approximately 30 people who attended the session. Mayor Todd Vanek welcomed the participants, who were seated around a rectangle of tables in the library's basement meeting room. The mayor then turned the meeting over to Sara Golden who had issued the call for the session.

Golden's spouse, Blaine Golden, is a member of the Colfax park board and answered several questions on decisions by the city park board and city council. At their last session, city council members approved drafting a resolution which would be the basis of a council decision to consider placing a proposal for formation of a metropolitan park district on the ballot. Blaine Golden noted a city council vote on the proposal, which would include a petition drive and, if successful, placement on the ballot, has not been made by the council.

A handout to participants pointed to the need to raise awareness to the plight of the pool, build support for the park district proposal and a levy and develop other funding sources such as grants, fund raising and in-kind labor.

Discussion included the parks and city decision to operate the pool next summer without replacing one of two units for heating water. Blaine Golden gave an account of the Department of Ecology's actions to prevent treated water which leaks out of the pool to flow into the North Fork of the Palouse River.

One of the topics introduced was the possibility of building a new covered pool which could be operated all year. That would involve more costs for construction and more operating costs through the year, Blaine Golden noted.

Others noted a pool is needed to train youngsters to swim, and the pool during the summer serves as a child care facility for some families.

The future of the pool after next year was another topic discussed. Participants noted if the metropolitan park district measure gets on the ballot in the November general election not much time will remain to come up with solutions to the pool's problems.