Council moves forward on pool

McCOOK, Neb. — The McCook City County unanimously approved a contract Monday night with an engineering firm for preliminary plans on a new swimming pool.

This doesn’t mean anything is set in stone yet, City Manager Nate Schneider stressed Monday night at the regular meeting, but is part of the process to move forward toward a ballot question that will ultimately go to the voters.

“We have to get to Point A to Point B…it doesn’t mean there will be a pool,” he said.

The contract is for $16,250 for Lamp Rynearson, a civil engineering firm the McCook Pool Committee first recommended four years ago. At the time, the city council did not move forward with a contract as there were other projects that had to be taken care of, Schneider said, such as paying off the city municipal building. That was completed in 2018 and after that, equipment for city departments was purchased. Now, there are funds earmarked in the budget for the pool as well as a recently received grant for preliminary pool planning.

According to the contract, aquatics feasibility planning includes Phase I: data collection, site evaluation, draft concept operational analysis, project development (finalize concept and program); and Phase 2, public engagement and funding campaign.

“We start with a blank page and shut up and listen,” said Kyle McCawley of Lamp Rynerson who was present at Monday’s meeting. This means helping to figure out what’s most feasible for the community, he said, by looking at the current pool and issues it may have. There will also be an evaluation process for different sites that will include looking at development costs, utilities, traffic flow, and sites with capabilities for recreational venues, he said. This could include a year-round indoor pool, a seasonal outdoor pool or both, and estimates of costs to operate and maintain a pool. Finding stakeholders to be part of the process is also imperative, he said, such as individuals or groups who use the pool, including for recreational use, therapy use or competitive.

The McCook Pool Committee in its last report recommended using its current location near McCook Community College but there has been input from citizens recently who prefer other locations and partnerships, such as the YMCA location.

Community engagement and education is critical to find out what the public wants, McCawley said. Social media, town hall meetings by either in-person or via YouTube or Facebook Live, and online surveys will be utilized to understand what the community wants and what kind of pool will be the most utilized.

In response to a question by Mayor Mike Gonzales about concept designs, several concept drawings will be presented and then tweaked as part of the process. “Community stakeholders help us refine the final concept so the public knows why we picked a site and what the costs are,” McCawley said.

Gonzales also asked about a timeline for the project. Schneider said there are several “milestones” to meet and variables concerning that, to make sure grant deadlines are met. There are three elements to a project, Schneider said, those being grants, fundraising, and taxpayer support and all three are extremely important to decrease the burden on the taxpayer. McCawley agreed there are deadlines to meet and that the process usually takes four to six months, but that can be adjusted to identify all the funding sources.

Several questions were also asked from the public attending Monday night’s meeting. McCook citizen Dale Dueland said it was important that stakeholders include community entities, such as the YMCA and the hospital; and Nick Nothnagel asked if local contractors would be used.

Local will be used whenever possible, McCawley said, but construction for a pool is specialized and considered niche construction.

Concrete contractors must be within 45 minutes of the site as stated in the contract, he said, as “it’s a big chunk of money.”

Ronda Graff, a long-time McCook Pool Committee member, asked if going out to the public would be included in Phase I and McCawley answered yes, that phases will overlap.

The public will be engaged early on in a multiple of ways, he continued, along with meetings with the steering committee.

After the meeting Monday night, Graff said she was encouraged to see the project included using stakeholders in the community. “This is wonderful to see and I hope we will also include community partners such as the YMCA, McCook Public Schools, MCC and Community Hospital.”

“I am glad to see the pool project making forward progress and hope this study will help us come up with a plan which gets people excited,” she said.

“As was said during the meeting, we are starting with a blank page when it comes to the project so we have a lot of options at this point.”