By Jennifer Eisenbart
Editor
For now, the City of Burlington will have to wait to find out what to do with its outdoor pool, but plans are in place to study the issue.
The Common Council decided Tuesday night to move forward with the first stages of a planned potential upgrade of the community pool, using Burbach Aquatics LLC – a company that specializes in putting together pool projects and pitching them within a community.
Those first parts of the process will include a study of the current site, the city’s pool needs and costs for either repairs or building a new pool.
Once the city determines what possibilities there are for the pool, Burbach will help get the question to referendum and educate the public.
Reaching a decision on a consultant took more than an hour and a half of debate Tuesday night – and eventually led to the one “nay” vote.
Alderman Jon Schultz voted against the motion to engage in negotiations with Burbach to set up a contract for the study. After the meeting, Schultz said he had no objections with Burbach or the proposed plan, but the fact that the council needed to debate for an hour and a half showed that not everyone was on the same page.
That was clear from the opening moments of the discussion Tuesday night. Alderman Tom Vos succinctly put the question to the rest of the council.
“I think the first question we need to answer is, is the Common Council willing to hire one of these firms?” he asked.
Much of the council seemed ready to do that, but Alderman Tom Preusker raised his objections almost immediately.
“Personally, I think this process has gotten way ahead of itself,” said Preusker, who wanted to see the issue either tabled or voted down entirely. He said the pool had not been brought up in previous budget discussions, which he had been a part of for the last few years.
“In my mind, the pool is not a priority or a goal of the city,” Preusker said. “We’ve never had a basic conversation of, does the city want a pool. This plan is the equivalent of walking into a car dealership and saying ‘sell me something.’”
However, as other members of the council – and Mayor Bob Miller – pointed out, the pool did not hit a crisis point until spring of 2014. Miller said his radar last year was focused on a joint government center and a new library.
Both, as Miller explained, “are still standing.”
“The pool could collapse come spring,” he said.
Alderman Bob Prailes added, “Whether it was mentioned or not. We’re at a critical point. Do you agree or do you not agree?”
Preusker agreed that the pool had reached a crisis point, but still questioned whether the city needed or wanted a pool – and also whether the study could commit the city to constructing a new one or moving forward with repairs.
“I reject the premise that this is our decision to make,” he said.
Vos, however, said that was exactly why the aldermen had been elected.
“We’re put here to make these decisions,” Vos said about deciding on the study. “We need to decide whether we want to save it, or let it go by the wayside.”
The aldermen continued to try and iron out just what the city wanted to study and what it would be committed to once the study was completed. Miller explained that if the city did the study, it should send the process to referendum and let citizens decide once and for all.
After everyone agreed the city should have flexibility on whether or not to move forward with a pool project, City Attorney John Bjelajac said a contract could be negotiated that would allow city staff to decide what it wanted to do.
And Tom Foht from Kapur and Associates pointed out that the process was similar to what the city had done with the new combined public works building.
“You dealt with an architect,” Foht said of that project. “You’re dealing with a different kind of architect here.”
In the vote on the matter, Preusker did vote to move forward with Burbach, provided negotiations would be mutually beneficial.
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