Volunteers Jeff Miller, left, and Bill Ralph, right, power wash the Pearl Street Pool in September 2013.
Despite the group’s impassioned pleas, the Centralia City Council rejected a proposal to extend S.T.O.P. and Swim’s deadline to raise money for restoration of the Pearl Street Pool on Tuesday.
In March 2014, the council approved a plan dictating that if the group met seven funding conditions and raised about $1.6 million through grants and donations, then the city would open and operate it.
On Tuesday night, the group and its supporters filled the council chambers, with Harland Forrest and Robert Logan speaking on its behalf.
Councilor Lee Coumbs made a motion to give the group an additional two years to meet the original agreement, and Mayor Bonnie Canaday seconded, but the motion failed 4-3. Coumbs, Canaday and Councilor Ron Greenwood voted yes; Councilors Bart Ricks, John Elmore, Pat Gallagher and Gabe Anzelini voted no.
At first, Logan and Forrest told the council S.T.O.P. and Swim had collected $300,000 that it would be able to use for future grant applications. Then they said $200,000 of that was money allocated to them by the state Legislature, but the remaining $100,000 was from private donations.
They encouraged the city council to show support for the project.
Elmore questioned the group's ability to raise the $1.6 million and pointed out that they hadn’t met the requirements set last year.
Even the group’s typically sanguine supporters on the council were a bit admonishing.
Councilor Ron Greenwood asked for proof, such as a bank statement, of the $100,000 S.T.O.P. was claiming. Forrest said they didn’t have one on hand and about $65,000 of it was in the form of pledges.
“I’m comfortable with letting you make another round (of grant applications), but I’m really going to encourage you… let’s quit double-counting money and put some money in the bank,” Coumbs said. “If you’ve got pledges, let’s see something here.”
Forrest told the council the pledges were contingent on the city being supportive of the project.
“We’ve supported you in the past and you keep on touting the $100,000, so why don’t you collect it when we’ve supported you?” Greenwood said.
Logan, the other speaker for the group, told the council that some potential donors were reluctant to donate money until they had more assurances from the city.
“Or you can simply return the money if you didn’t get it. If you say you have money, you have money,” Greenwood said.
Forrest told the council that he had faith in the people who pledged, and was sure they’d stick to the their word just as the council surely would.
The point frustrated Anzelini, and he told Forrest to stop assuming how he or the pledgers would behave, which prompted Canaday to step in and stop the exchange.
“If you guys were asking for two — even four — years to purchase the pool and operated it yourselves, I’d say ‘go for it,” Anzelini said.
He told the group the city had once already let the pool fall into disrepair and would likely do so again.
“I believe you’re wasting your time,” he said. “We don’t have the money now, we didn’t have the money then, so I’d rather not waste your time.”
Centralia City Manager Rob Hill later said the council’s decision impacted only S.T.O.P. and Swim’s fundraising, not necessarily the pool itself. Its future will be discussed by the Parks Board next month.
“Council didn't say ‘we don’t ever want to see a pool there,’ that’s not what was on the floor,” he said. “Nothing can stop them from coming back and saying we’ve got more money. Anybody and come in there and make an offer — whether the council would go for it is the question.”
The effort to save the Pearl Street Pool started after the Centralia Parks and Recreation Advisory Board proposed in 2012 to permanently close the pool and build a new park and playground, filled with a splash pad, basketball court and playground. In 2010, when it was last open, the city paid nearly $33,000 to run the pool. Before the city took ownership nearly 10 years ago, the pool was operated by the local non-profit organization Friends in Need.
In the most recent legislative session, the House of Representatives’ capital budget included $200,000 appropriation for a splash pad/fountain at the Pearl Street Pool location.
