City intends to contribute $7 million for potential pool at YMCA
By Riley Funk
Plans for a local indoor pool project took another step forward Monday.
The St. Joseph City Council approved a resolution on Monday night that states the city’s intent to contribute up to $7 million in capital funds to help construct an indoor aquatic facility on the local YMCA campus. This is on the condition that the YMCA secures the rest of the funding before the end of the year, city documents said.
Additionally, the city passed annual operations costs for the facility in the amount of $270,000. The council passed the bill with a 9-0-0 vote.
Tammy Killin, CEO of the St. Joseph YMCA, said the project is an ever-evolving process. Changes to the size of the facility have jumped from 23,000 to 35,000 square feet. This has also adjusted the estimated budget for the final project. The original budget was around $12 million, but now it’s estimated the cost could be close to $16 million, Killin said.
Approval by the city council is something that Killin is encouraged by. Now that the city has approved the bill, the YMCA can now move forward with getting more grant applications submitted. The city is just one player that will help the YMCA move forward in the process.
“We have been very blessed with having our local experts help us. But now it’s time that we’re really wanting to secure those collaborations and those stakeholders to move forward with a little bit more realistic, tighter, realistic budget,” Killin said.
Killin said the next step is to solidify the plan and then bring it before the city council before the end of the year.
“Within the next 60 days, we’re going to really have some real movement here. What we needed was that initial, approval to say we can move forward with grant requests and applications so that we can make this a viable situation for our community,” Killin said.
However, not everyone in St. Joseph is on board with the project, including resident Donna Liechti.
She said St. Joseph needs a good working outdoor pool for families to enjoy during the summertime because “that’s how it’s supposed to be.” She said Krug Pool entering its final year is a big concern.
“Another splash park is not the idea,” Liechti said. “Toddlers love it. Junior high, high school kids, they’re taken off going to all the area towns.”
Liechti said that kids are going to places like Gower, Savannah and Cameron for public pools.
“We’ve even got some kids going to Wathena. It’s sad that our teenagers and junior high kids are going elsewhere when we need to take care of them,” she said.
Liechti thinks the city needs to let the people decide on the future of the project.
“It’s not just up to them to say, give that $7 million to the Y,” Liechti said. “If it’s down to they want to do it, then they need to let us vote and we’ll see what St. Joe wants. If they do, I’ll back off and that’s about the best way we can do it.”
