FUTURE OF FORKS AQUATIC CENTER PONDERED

By Chris Cook - Forks Forum editor

Forging a plan to somehow reopen the shuttered Forks Aquatic Center was the focus of a community meeting called last week by Mayor Nedra Reed and the Quillayute Valley Parks and Recreation District (QVPRD).

“What do we do now?” QVPRD boardmember Sandra Carter asked to open the meeting.

Voters rejected in November by a two-to-one margin the creation of a Metropolitan Park District with junior taxing authority that would have paid for the bulk of the annual cost of operating the pool located inside the aquatic center.
“The failure (of the election) caught me totally by surprise,” Carter told the gathering. “I’m still willing to stick it out?I have hope for the future of the facility.”

The pool and its building were opened in 2005 and paid for through a voter-approved bond issue that is being paid off into the 2020s.

The QVPRD was forced to close the pool in Sept. 2006 due to a lack of operating funds. The rising cost of propane needed to heat the pool, higher-than-estimated personnel pay and other factors were given as reasons for the closing.
Local residents and business people, and the two remaining board members of QVPRD spent two hours throwing out ideas, critiquing why the public pool housed in the aquatic center failed and discussing the reorganization of the board.
Reed said finding a solution would be a “monumental effort,” and in a nutshell described the effort as “how do you protect an incredible asset that belongs to you.”

The meeting was held at the Department of Natural Resource’s conference room adjacent to Tillicum Park in Forks.
Suggestions for reopening the pool included:
• filling the pool with a fine sand to protect it, then putting a floor over the pool, enabling the space to be used for offices, a gym or other uses;
• Bert Paul of Forks Outfitters suggested creating an endowment that would fund the estimated $300,000-plus cost of operating the pool, plus the $80,000 needed to pay off back bills and the cost of getting the pool back online, and it was suggested that Stephenie Meyer, the author of the best-selling, Forks-set “Twilight”  book series be approached for funding;
• turn the pool over to the Quillayute Valley School District for use in swimming instruction, as a classroom for special needs students and other uses, with the school district footing the bill;
• putting the pool in mothballs for five or more years until funding and support for reopening the pool returned  was suggested by Port Angeles Port Commissioner John Calhoun.

Carter and Deb Anderson, the two members of the five-member QVPRD, asked for assistance in creating a long-term plan for the aquatic center and its pool. Carter said she has been on the board for nine years, and Anderson said she has served for 13 years.

They sought volunteers to fill the three open positions on the board.

Forks businessman Bill Sperry compared the financial situation of the pool to that of bankruptcy, and said, “Let’s start fresh.” He and others suggested filling the board with residents with business experience.

Passing control of the aquatic center on to another government entity was also suggested, along with setting a deadline to do that. Calhoun said the QVPRD didn’t have the financial or organizational depth needed to take on the task.
Reed with the assistance of Forks City/Attorney Rod Fleck ran the meeting. On oversized sheets of paper Fleck wrote down about two dozen suggestions, issues and remarks on the aquatic center and its future.

Also at issue was the ongoing costs of maintaining the idled building, and how to pay off debts incurred when the pool was in operation in 2005 and 2006.

Currently, Carter and Anderson are holding bake sales, collecting used cell phones and staging other fundraising efforts. A fundraising Tupperware party was announced at the meeting.

Both admitted to being “burned out” by keeping the aquatic center afloat.

Financial negatives include over $10,000 owed to those who paid for pool passes, and thousands of dollars owed to Ferrellgas for propane. There is also the cost of liability insurance that would cover the park district should someone who used the pool in the past sued the district, electric bills and building maintenance.

Mark Soderlind, who publicly opposed the formation of the MPD last year, said the public didn’t support the ballot measure because it required only 50 percent plus-one vote approval, rather than the 60 percent required to pass a levy. “Thought it was a dirty trick,” Soderlind said. A trend across the state in rejecting new taxes, the reallocating of state timber dollars from other projects and facing funding for too many public projects at once were reasons also cited.

Reed said City Public Works Director Dave Zellar is planning on using city workers to do some basic maintenance work to the pool and aquatic center building. Reed also emphasized that the pool “was not the city’s facility.”

The QVPRD receives about $18,000 per year in income on four rental homes it owns on a parcel nearby the aquatic center, Carter said. However, the net income isn’t enough to pay for all the annual costs, she said.
A show of hands gave unanimous support to finding a solution, and at the end of the meeting it was decided to continue the discussion at QVPRD meetings. The meetings are held the second and fourth Thursday of the month at 6 p.m. in the Forks Community Hospital’s conference room.

Anyone with ideas or wishing to volunteer to become a board member can contact Carter at 374-7533 or send an e-mail to scarter@reachone.com.