Washington’s City Council wants to know possible financial repercussions that city faces if the city closes the pool at the Hildred T. Moore Aquatic Center.

During one of the council’s budget session last week, council members and the mayor discussed several options regarding the pool. Councilman Doug Mercer and Mayor Mac Hodges indicated they want to close the pool because it’s a drain on city finances and is used by few people. Council members Richard Brooks and William Pitt favor developing a plan that would allow the pool to remain open.

Hodges and Mercer noted that operating the pool costs the city about $360,000 a year. Pool membership fees do not cover those costs, he said.

Because a $250,000 Parks and Recreation Trust Fund Grant helped pay to build the pool, there could be a requirement in place obligating the city to return the grant amount to the state, which could result in the city not being eligible for PARTF grants in the future.

“If, in fact, we shut the pool down, the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund members have said, ‘Don’t expect us to fund anymore activities for the City of Washington,” Roberson said.

The council instructed city staff to determine if that is the case. Also, the council instructed city staff to determine if the pool is closed could the city avoid paying back the grant if it used the building housing the pool for other recreational purposes. Mercer and Hodges talked about moving the city’s senior citizens center at the Peterson Building to the pool complex (the pool would be filled in fill material).

“I’d rather take the $250,000 and put it in a different facility and close the pool,” Mercer said, later saying “like the mayor said, the pool is just not used.”

“If you go in there most days, you’ve got four employees standing around guarding nobody,” Hodges said, adding that the money the city spends on the pool would be better used on other recreational activities.

The pool’s dehumidifier needs replacement, which is estimated to cost about $300,000, according to city officials. The proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year does not include that replacement money in the parks and recreation budget. There is enough money in the city’s facilities reserve fund to pay for replacing the unit in case the unit fails.

City Manager Bobby Roberson told the council that the city’s pool committee indicated it is willing to help raise money to replace the unit. The council asked Roberson to find out if the committee is willing to raise $150,000 toward the replacement cost, with the city providing the remaining money.

Councilman Larry Beeman said the city needs to know what it is obligated to do, if anything, in regard to the PARTF grant if it closes the pool. “First and foremost, we need to find what are the repercussions,” he said.

Roberson said it’s his opinion the PARTF committee would allow the city to convert the pool into a senior citizens center.

Councilwoman Virginia Finnerty said the council should inform the city’s Recreation Advisory Committee about its discussions regarding the pool so its members know what the council is considering in regard to the aquatic center.