Tags, American flags and posters adorn the fencing outside the closed down Pearl Street Pool in Centralia in this photo taken in July 2015.
A sign hangs on the door of the Pearl Street Pool reminding visitors that the community swimming pool in Centralia is closed.
Tags, American flags, and posters adorn the fencing outside the closed down Pearl Street Pool on Monday afternoon in Centralia.
A sign hangs on the door of the Pearl Street Pool reminding visitors that the community swimming hole on Monday afternoon in Centralia.
Tags, American flags, and posters adorn the fencing outside the closed down Pearl Street Pool in Centralia in this 2015 file photo.
The Washington Recreation and Conservation Office has awarded the city of Centralia a $500,000 grant to repair the Pearl Street Pool.
The Centralia pool restoration funding was announced on Monday as one of 268 projects that are being awarded a total of $110 million to build parks and boating facilities, maintain nature trails and conserve working farms and critical wildlife habitat. The city’s grant funding source is the newly created Recreation Grants program, which is funded by the sale of state bonds.
Last summer, S.T.O.P. and Swim, the group trying to restore the Pearl Street Pool, applied for two $500,000 grants to restore the facility. One grant was from the federal government, the other was with the Washington Recreation and Conservation Office. The Pearl Street Pool was number 30 on the RCO’s list of 70. The pool group didn’t win either grant. Typically, even in a good funding year, any projects on a RCO list ranking below 25 didn’t get money, so the group began looking elsewhere. They were able to secure $200,000 in the form of a state capital budget allocation to build a splash pad/fountain.
But, what S.T.O.P. and Swim, city officials and probably few others expected, was for the Legislature to pick and choose which grant categories to fund. Because lawmakers sought to emphasize local development, all 70 projects on the Washington Recreation and Conservation Office’s list have been approved to receive grant funds as requested. Now, in order to get the grant, the city will have to come up with $500,000 as a match.
The city council voted to stop working with S.T.O.P and Swim last May when it declined to give the group any more time to raise funds toward a potential match. Since then, there has been little public discussion about restoring the pool. With the allocations now in play, that’s likely to change.
“Centralia is not alone. Other projects that saw they were low (on the list) didn’t certify their match,” Susan Zemek, a spokeswoman for the Washington Recreation and Conservation Office, said. “We’re going to be extending the time they have to come up with the match, but we don’t know how long because the program is too new. We’re going to be talking with each group about it.”
The program is so new that the Washington Recreation and Conservation Office isn’t yet sure what will happen if the city, or any of the other project leads, can’t match the grants.
“Usually what happens if the money isn’t used is it goes to another project, but there are no other projects on this list, so we don’t know yet,” Zemek said. “We’re going to look at all the rules we have to follow.”
Reactions to the news from city council members were mixed.
“Well that’s interesting,” said Mayor Pro Tem John Elmore. “That sounds like responsible government at it’s finest.”
Elmore commended the pool group for its passion, but said the news doesn’t change his opinion that the city can’t afford to maintain a swimming pool.
“Here’s the other big issue; pools divide families because mom drops off kids to go get cigarettes, tattoos and buy beers; Splash pads unite families because grandma and grandpa want to go along,” he said.
Councilman Gabe Anzelini gave a similar statement, saying that the issue isn’t fixing the pool, it’s having the money to maintain the pool — especially when the city’s streets are in need of repair.
“They’ll just run it into the ground again because it’s too expensive to maintain it,” he said. “... I’m not for strapping the city with more liability.”
Councilman Ron Greenwood said he’s open to giving S.T.O.P. and Swim more time to raise money because no one else is trying to fix the pool.
“I’m all for someone trying to do something positive in the city; that’s part of life, part of the human condition, we struggle to do something positive within the community,” he said.
Joyce Barnes, the vice president of S.T.O.P. and Swim, said neither the group nor the city have the $500,000 to match the grant, but said the group is “absolutely determined” to have the pool back open someday.
“It’s hard to raise money without already having some in your pocket, we found, so this could help us along the way,” Robert Logan, a spokesman for S.T.O.P. and Swim said.
