The 50-Meter Pool Controversy

The Missoulian has covered this controversy, but in a way that leaves readers more confused than ever. How does that happen? How could it be covered differently?

The issue is pretty simple: Is the $8.1 million aquatics bond supposed to pay for a 50-meter pool? Or was that pool supposed to be paid for with private funds?

Brief background: Missoula passed an $8.1 million "aquatics bond" in November 2003 to build new pools in the city, replacing our two pools (both of them outdoor) at McCormick and Playfair Parks. Demolition began in August. Last week a group of citizens came to City Council to complain that the new construction doesn't include a 50-meter competitive-sized pool, contending that voters thought that was one of the things they were buying when they passed the bond. Missoula Parks & Recreation, the lead agency, says the bond was never intended to pay for the 50-meter pool, that private donations were always intended to build it.

So who's right? Where's the truth? I couldn't begin to answer that question after reading the Missoulian articles, although I was intrigued by the unequivocal representations of Parks & Rec Director Donna Gaukler:

Every description of the project before the vote in November 2003 explained that the project would build two aquatics facilities and four splash decks using $8.1 million in bond money and $1.5 million from the Missoula Redevelopment Agency, Gaukler said. A 50-meter competition-worthy pool would be built at Playfair Park with $1.4 million raised by a group of residents committed to the pool.

How interesting -- she says it has always been clear, and these citizens who are complaining say that the only thing that was clear is just the opposite. My ears perked up and my nose started twitching! I did what my legal and journalistic training (as well as my natural curiosity) taught me to do -- I looked for the paper trail. Cities don't pass million-dollar bonds without talking about it -- and cities don't talk about million-dollar bonds without someone keeping minutes of the meetings.

I quickly found the promotional materials Missoula Parks & Recreation prepared to convince voters they should tax themselves for this project. First was a flyer, and next was a slide show. Lo and behold, at the top of the page (in bold type), the flyer says this:

The Aquatics Bond would build a new indoor pool and family aquatic center at McCormick Park, a new 50-meter competitive pool and aquatic center at Playfair Park and four "splash decks" at Bonner, Marilyn, Westside and Franklin parks. (my emphasis)

Although this seems pretty darn clear, there is language suggesting just the opposite on the very same page. A sidebar outlining costs says that $1.4 million will be "pledged  to City Council by user groups and competitive aquatics advocates for the 50-meter pool." Although I would certainly argue that this flyer was misleading and confusing to voters, it still doesn't answer the underlying question: Was the pool supposed to be included or not? Who is in charge of that question, and when did they decide it?

I kept digging. It turns out the city Parks & Rec department receives "advice and recommendations" from a volunteer board, the Parks & Recreation Board. While it does not have legal control over the city department, it does both discuss and vote upon major expenditures related to Parks & Rec. Not surprisingly, this very issue came before the board on July 15, 2003. The board minutes reflect a concise history of the bond issue (failing pools, aquatics feasibility study, aquatics task force), and also suggest that the 50-meter pool was a source of contention as the bond issue was discussed:

In June the Mayor appointed members to an Aquatics Task Force to come up with recommendations after reviewing the reports form the Aquatics study which recommended closure of all wading and swimming pools in the coming years.

[. . .]

The ATF was made up of a diverse group of fifteen citizens who had the challenging task of coming up with a recommendation. There was not 100% consensus among the group on all issues.  However, there was consensus to have both pools updated and to replace the wading pools at Bonner, Westside and Franklin [parks] with spray decks. The group had difficulty agreeing on whether or not to build and where to build a 50 meter pool. There was also an issue of replacing the pool at McCormick with an indoor facility. For an additional 1.5 million dollars the season could be extended from twelve weeks to twelve months. There is more room available for a 50 meter pool outdoor pool at Playfair Park.

Here's where the acronyms start to fly. The ATF is the task force appointed to make recommendations about Missoula pools. Now we hear from the ALT, which is the Administration Leadership Team. I have no idea who they are, or what power they have. But they weighed on this, too:

The Administration Leadership Team (ALT) recommended placing the issue on the ballot for this November. They included in the resolution to add one more spray deck at Marilyn Park, build the 50 meter pool at Playfair Park attached to a family aquatics center and put an indoor facility at McCormick Park. The bond would be 7.5 mills for 8 million dollars. The building of the 50 meter pool would be contingent upon the local competitive swim group [ed.: Swim Missoula] to raise fifty percent of the cost incurred for building a 50 meter pool. The funds must be raised prior to construction.

This suggests that the city is partly correct -- that half of the funds for the 50-meter pool were intended to come from private fundraising by Swim Missoula. Of course, that means half of the funds were intended to come from the bond issue, so our questions are not completely answered.

More importantly, though, what did the Parks Board recommend? After a few motions, some amendments, and (I assume) a lot of discussion that is not reflected in the minutes, the Parks Board voted:

Dale then moved to include in the motion the recommendation of the ATF, edits by Mayor [ed.: could be the ALT, otherwise it's unknown] and a new whereas to include the City of Missoula Parks Board unanimously supports the bond issue to build the following: an indoor family aquatics center at McCormick Park, an outdoor family aquatics center at Playfair Park with the addition of a 50 meter pool and four spray decks at Bonner, Westside, Franklin and Marilyn Park. Pat seconded the motion. The board voted unanimously to approve the motion.

OK. So now we know that at least three different groups -- the ATF, the ALT, and the Parks & Rec board -- had something to say about how the aquatics bond money should be spent. We also know that every group came to a different conclusion about how the 50-meter pool should fit into that picture. As near as we can tell (I can't find ATF meeting minutes online), the ATF disagreed about the 50-meter pool but didn't make any specific recommendations about it. The ALT said it should be funded half by the bond and half by private donations. The Parks & Rec board listened to all of that and voted to support building the 50-meter pool with the aquatics bond money.

Now we're two years down the road, with construction well under way at both Playfair and McCormick. Swim Missoula has raised $100,000, according to the Missoulian, which is either a long way away from $1.4 million (the cost of the 50-meter pool), or 1/7 of the way toward their goal of paying for half of the 50-meter pool.

Did the Parks & Rec Board's vote give Parks & Rec the authority to promote the aquatics bond issue? Did Parks & Rec have the authority to promote it differently than it was approved by the board? What contract did the city enter into with Swim Missoula?

This is about much more than a pool. This is about government accountability for huge sums of tax dollars.

Finally, why doesn't the Missoulian link us to these documents so that readers can find out for themselves what's really going on? Not doing so simplifies this story into cranks versus bureaucrats -- a simplification that doesn't appear to fit, and keeps us from understanding a lot more about how our government works.

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[dylan]

Good job, Beth. A part of this issue that continues to bug me is the city's lack of funding for theskatepark, which is part of this McCormick redesign. 8 million for a pool, and not a dime for a skatepark? Which one do you think will really help troubled youth in Missoula more? I've seen kids blossom at skateparks in my experience- they become a kind of hope away from home for those trailer park "latchkey" kids that would be running around their neighborhoods usually since their parents could give a toss about their whereabouts. Kids that might just get sucked into drugs, crime, etc. really grow up with good influences from skaters at parks. But hey, what do I know? Swimming is cool too.
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