By Brandi Watters, Herald Bulletin Staff Writer
ALEXANDRIA - Some call it a tradition. Others say its part of what makes Alex special. But for city officials, the pool is a drain on the budget.
Mayor Jack Woods recently announced that the city has no choice but to close the pool this summer.
Maintenance and staffing costs $85,000 per year, he said, but the pool only earns $16,000 a summer.
Due to property tax caps, the city must cut over $500,000 from its budget over the next two years.
The total cost of operations includes various repairs needed at the pool and the cost of employing teenagers who work as lifeguards during the summer.
With the city in a budget bind, Woods said he was given the choice of cutting jobs or closing the pool. “Somebody’s job is more important than the pool, to me.”
The pool closed only once in its more than 40-year history. Ten years ago, a girl died in a drowning accident and the pool closed for the summer but it has never closed for budget reasons.
Not everyone is happy with that decision to close the gates.
Three Alexandria women have decided to take it upon themselves to save the pool.
Vanessa Hosier, Penny Stevens and Sherry Brown are hoping to raise enough money to support the pool for two summers.
“The pool is such a part of our heritage,” Brown said. “We’ve had a pool for so many years. A lot of people have memories of the old pool. If you say the pool, it brings back so many memories for so many generations.”
Councilman John Dockrey said the decision to close the pool was not one easily made, but few other options presented themselves.
“I’m not a fan of the idea of closing it. It’s a necessary evil. I can’t see any other way. The mayor brought it to us, he said we’ll either have to close the pool or lay people off.”
“It’s not just a pool. It’s a place where people relax. It’s a getaway. It’s a lot of things to our community,” Dockrey said, recognizing its significance in the community.
Hosier said the tumbling economy has affected Alexandria, like every other small town, and closing the pool would be another let down. “It’s an icon for Alexandria. In this time, for us to close something this huge down would just be another slap in the community’s face.”
She does not blame the city for the decision to shut the gates. “We understand the reason that it has to happen.”
Instead of debating with city officials, the three women have committed themselves to saving the pool by rallying area citizens.
They are still working out the numbers and figuring out how much it’ll cost to operate for the next two summers.
Hosier said the effort is not only about saving a pool. “It’s about saving our summer for our children.”
“We’ve got a couple of pretty nice size businesses who are open to helping us,” she hinted.
Hosier said those outside of Alexandria might not understand why the pool is so significant. “We’re not like Anderson. You had a pool close but that just means you have 8 more to go to.”
“We’ve had businesses close. Our numbers have gone down at school. It’s not a community that is thriving. It’s not any different than Anderson in many ways with General Motors. You’d think by now, people would have their minds past that but losing that (company) has taken such a hit to this community,” she said.
Alexandria needs its pool, she insists. “For it to be empty, would just be another knock to our already dying town here.”
The pool is not going down without a fight, Brown said. “We’re looking to rally the community and come together because we know that in Alex, our people are our power.”
Dockrey agreed. “This is what’s exciting about our community. We’ve had the private sector step in and say ‘how can we help?’ It’s exciting to see that somebody is willing to step up.”
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Contact Brandi Watters 640-4847, brandi.watters@heraldbulletin.com
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Breakout:
Learn more about the effort to save the summer, e-mail savethesummer2009@yahoo.com
Send donations to:
Save the Summer
P.O. Box 72
Alexandria, IN 46001
