By Dani Gruber, special to Mountain Valley News
Cultural and Recreational Director Wilma Erven envisioned a lovely expansion to the Bill Heddles Recreation Center. There were therapy pools, river walks, slides that drifted outside the building, returning squealing children into the pool with a splash and a smile. Then, she opened the checkbook. Now, as the pool expansion lifeguard, Erven is looking at an economy that is floating face down and a city budget that will leave BHRC gasping for a financial rescue.
Delta City Council met with Erven on June 15, 2010 to discuss options for the expansion of BHRC and how those options have changed as more research has been done.
“Our greatest concern in all the research we've done is finances and ending up with a product that would not function as well as our growth is demanding,” said Erven.
Mechanical requirements are deemed most important. Erven said the filters for the large pool and the kiddie pool are huge issues. She said all three mechanical systems have sand filtration systems and that they are beginning to rust. “My biggest fear is to come in the morning and find the big pool filled with sand. They are 17 years old. They've never had any welding done to them. In talking to the companies, no one can believe we've gotten that kind of service out of them,” said Erven of the filtration systems.
The filters were originally estimated to last 10 years. Erven said if funding will allow, new products offer 20-years of service and that such improvements could save BHRC from massive costs resulting from system failures.
Councilman Ed Sisson toured the facility with Erven and supported her requests. “I think your recommendations are a go. You gave me a tour and we need to do this soon,” said Sisson.
City Manager Joe Kerby was also supportive, but anchored by the financial constraints. “Ultimately I'd like to come to you with the dream plan and how we can fund it. This is our dream plan and we cannot fund it. We hoped to come up with a scaled down version,” said Kerby. “When you look at the three areas for expansion, we are hard pressed to fund one of those over the next 10 years,” he said.
Kerby suggested the city focus on maintenance items as the project team continues to focus on other alternatives to fund other improvements. Additionally, he said he supported keeping a million dollar reserve in case of emergencies. Kerby said from 2010 to 2020, the amount of money the city would have accrued for improvements based on a two percent revenue projection would be $3.3 million. The cheapest improvements are currently estimated at $2.9 million.
“Fortunately our debt service is paid off in 2011,” said Kerby. “(After that) We're able to take that amount (the debt service) and put it into capital.”
Erven hopes to keep those who support BHRC updated of the progress. She said independent companies like heart, diabetes and arthritis foundations, may offer financial support, but she expected those donations to be between $25-50,000. While these amounts help the pool, they are not sufficient to pay for the original dream plan.
For now, Erven plans on proceeding with the mechanical improvements which will run approximately $300,000. “We can cash fund those,” she said, adding that additional improvements can be done later.
Erven will present her request for repairs at the next council meeting to be held July 6, 2010.
