District chief confers on pool
And if Victor Sondag were here, the late attorney and park district founding father would make that point emphatically.
The misnomer seems to have stuck, though, even though the pool was rededicated as Sondag Memorial Pool more than four years ago. That may explain why some citizens worried about the future of the pool call City Hall to express their concerns."One of the things people have asked me-and I know some have asked you-is 'Why can't the city build us a new pool,'" Waterloo Park District President Steve Goessling told Mayor Tom Smith and most of the city aldermen at a committee of the whole meeting Monday at City Hall.
The answer, of course, is the city is not in the pool business, the park district is, though if the existing pool isn't repaired or replaced, even the district may be getting out of the pool business in coming years.
Goessling is seeking the city's advice on a strategy that will finally sell district voters on a referendum to improve or replace the 40-year-old pool.
Last month, voters overwhelmingly rejected a $4.5 million bond proposal to build a swimming pool in Konarcik Park, a location strategy some officials think may have backfired.
"The complaint I was hearing the most was that it was going to be at Konarcik Park," 1st Ward Alderman Steve Notheisen said.
Notheisen and others said they think a 7-acre location off Rogers Street near the Waterloo School District would be an ideal location. Goessling said the district has discussed one option on that property-now owned by developer Dennis Brand-as well as acquiring ground near the Ss. Peter & Paul Catholic Parish ball diamonds or buying properties around the existing pool on Koenigsmark.
The parish and some of the property owners around the pool are not amenable to a sale, Goessling said.
Smith said the pool "is needed in Waterloo. It is one of the assets people look at when they move here."
The mayor said the city would like to see the Park District and the privately operated Waterloo Sports Association team up in some arrangement that would maximize the effectiveness of both parties.
"One idea would be to combine the park district with the WSA. The parks are great, but citizens want more than just growing green grass," Smith said.
If the WSA were to become a public entity, it could apply for state grants that it currently cannot access, Smith said.
No members of the Sports Association attended Monday's meeting.
Either way, Goessling said the park district intends to put a pool proposal on the ballot this November, whether the $4.5 million proposal to build a pool with additional amenities to attract more use or a less ambitious proposal to repair the pool.
In 2003, the district got an estimated $500,000 to restore the pool.
"I personally would like to try for the new pool again. People don't like the idea of a tax increase, especially since property taxes continue to go up. But the people who were saying the referendum would have cost them hundreds of dollars must be living in million-dollar homes, because this would be only about 2 percent of their tax bill," Goessling said.
A new pool would cost a typical property owner about $50 more per year, he said.
