3/14/13 Millersburg to make call on pool licensure
By Nick Sabo
March 14, 2013
298
SUMMARY: Options include closing pool, licensing it for another year
Reopening the Crissey Memorial Pool will almost certainly come with a cost.
The pool has been closed for two seasons due to a mix of nature-inflicted damage and budget cuts made by the Village of Millersburg. Its license renewal is up in April, but before council makes a decision it will pay a visit to the pool March 25.
Council has three options when it comes to licensing the pool, each with a different outcome, Jon Croup, director of environmental health for the Holmes County Health District, said. If council decides to license the pool, it will have to bring the pool up to code to the states satisfaction. Any damage that has occurred at the pool in the two and a half years it has been closed would have to be addressed at this time, as well as any new directives from the state.
Should council decide not to license the pool, but wish to reopen at a later date, the village will essentially have to build a new pool, Croup said. By staying licensed, the pool, which was built in the 1920s, can avoid several code requirements by being grandfathered in. Giving up licensure will mean the pool has to be brought to the same standards as a pool built today.
Croup said it is very unlikely that the current pool can be brought up to modern standards.
If council decides to permanently close the pool, it may do so without health district approval. The pool can sit and council may do with it what they please, Croup said.
If council chooses to relicense the pool, it will face late fines and other costs amounting to roughly $1,000, Croup said. Council declined licensing the pool last year. However, statute allows them to relicense without losing its grandfather clause status if they renew by April. The village will have to pay for last years license plus a penalty, and pay for the 2013 license.
The village has operated the pool at a loss for several years, keeping it open as more of a public service. In addition to entertainment value, the pool offered swimming lessons through the Red Cross. Generations of young people have found summer employment as life guards. Churches and other non-profits often held free swim events there.
Such a service has come at a cost to the village, however. According to village records, the pool, in its last year of operation, saw gate receipts of $14,098, with total operating expenses of $50,431.67. Pass sales totaled $3,331.50 the same year. The year 2010 was a good one for the pool, with its lowest loss in four years. In 2007, the pool operated at a loss of $60,672.20.
In 2011, rising and falling flood waters caused the pool basin to crack. Repairs to the pool in 2011 were $20,520.
The pool is currently partially flooded. Village crews will drain the pool prior to councils visit March 25.
