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City Recreation Committee finalizes grant projects
BRANDON HUTCHESON
The City of Dyersburg Recreation Committee convened at 2 p.m. Friday afternoon in the upstairs conference room at City Hall. The committee came together to discuss the recent LPRF (Local Parks and Recreation Fund) Grant application.
The committee last met on Feb. 16, where Construction Inspector Scott Ball presented three locations for proposed splash pads – Okeena Park to replace the wading pool, the Farmers Market/ Downtown River Park area, and one to replace the Bruce Community Pool. The committee approved the projects.
On Feb. 20, when brought before the full board, Alderman Robert Taylor, Jr. mentioned that he had spoken with many members of the Bruce community who did not wish to have the pool shut down or repurposed for a splash pad. He expressed concern to hold a meeting with the Bruce community. The board voted and approved the projects with only Taylor voting in opposition.
As part of the grant process, the city held two community meetings – one on March 8 and one on March 15 at the Bruce Community Center and the Professional Development Center, respectively. During the March 8 meeting, City of Dyersburg Mayor John Holden presented the revenue and expenses of the Bruce Pool from 2015-2017, which he noted as the following:
2015 – revenue $580; expenses $15,785
2016 – revenue $516.25; expenses $13,138.84
2017 – revenue $498; expenses $10,743.97
City Engineer Tiffany Heard mentioned that records of the Bruce pool usage had been pulled and stated, “The average use while it is open is 5 people per day.” The majority of the room disagreed with her comment.
Over 75 Bruce community residents attended and voiced their opinion over the proposed spray pad. They spoke of their desires to keep the Bruce Pool in operation.
On March 15, the spray pad at Bruce was scrapped, as city leaders presented renderings of an ADA-compliant Bruce Pool, with a new pool system, locker rooms, concession area, and parking. A majority of community members felt that the city had neglected the maintenance on the pool over the years and not only asked for the pool renovations, but a splash pad as well.
On Friday, the committee met to see how they wished to move forward.
The grant must be turned into the state by April 18. It is also not guaranteed that the city would receive the grant as it as a competitive grant with municipalities across Tennessee.
“I’ve got 12 days to turn in the grant,” said Ball. “There’s still a lot of work to be done to meet that deadline. How do we want to move forward?”
Alderman Taylor noted that he had a petition with over 500 names of Bruce community members listed and stated, “Their gist of it is that the city was supposed to upkeep the pool, keep up the wading pool at Future City, so they’re suggesting that the city keeps the pool open, get a spray pad at Bruce also, and a spray pad at Future City.”
Alderman and Recreation Committee chairman Terry Glover asked if anyone had looked to see what all would have to be done to bring the Bruce Pool up to specification.
“If we do it with LPRF funds, first and foremost, we would have to bring everything up to ADA compliance,” said Ball. “Beyond those type of things, replace the pumps, concrete work. That work has to be done.”
“My concern is that it is a matching grant, $500,000,” stated Alderman Glover. “That’s going to be on next year’s budget. The other concern I have is the number of people using it. Not trying to belittle what’s there, but we’ve got to get the use up and document that.”
Ball added that the city would not be bound to complete any projects in 2 years, when the next cycle of the LPRF Grant becomes available. However, if the projects are not completed the city could not apply for the next round of funding.
Speaking of attendance, Taylor added, “A spray pad would get the attendance up.”
“Well, there are some people that don’t want it. I’ve talked to 2 or 3 that came up and talked to me that won’t come up and tell you,” said Glover. “The position that I’m in is to vote according to what is good business and what we can do with the taxpayers’ money. We can’t just go out and spend to just be spending.”
Parks and Recreation Director Andy Baker noted that Dyersburg is in a unique position compared to other municipalities as Dyersburg has 3 pools, where most others do not have 1.
“It’s unheard of for a town our size to have three,” said Baker. “Most of them are phasing the pools out for liability and the money it costs to operate them. They are replacing them with splash pads. I think we’re going to miss out on a great opportunity.”
“But you’re not closing down Okeena,” replied Taylor.
“Well, you’re not comparing apples to apples. You’re comparing apples to grapes,” explained Baker. “That’s just it. Like I’ve said before, if you were a business man, would you put a gas station on Lake Road where you get 10,000 cars a day or would you put it over on Vernon where you get 100 cars a day?”
“If I was a business man, would I allow my facility to be in the shape that it is?” asked Bruce resident Allen Mays. “I would have been doing maintenance, upkeeps, because any man that runs a business would not allow for that to happen. We shouldn’t even be discussing this right now because it never should have come to this point.
“To get the usage up, you’re going to have to enhance it,” added Mays. “You’re going to have to ask to community what is it going to take to get the usage up. No one wants anyone to throw a bunch of money away because that is just foolishness.”
Ball added that currently the city is building a Parks and Recreation master plan that will include every piece of park property the city owns.
“Everything will have an assessment done and what kind of shape that it’s in,” said Ball. “Hopefully we’ll have that done in a few weeks.”
“Can we come up with a plan that will still allow us to get the grants for the splash pad, but at the same time we can work on the pool and work toward getting more grants for that?” asked Mays. “Is that not what everybody wants?”
“If it’s affordable,” replied Mayor Holden. “It depends on how much the grant is. I don’t think it’s feasible to fix the pool at Bruce, get a spray pad at Bruce, get a spray pad at Future City, a spray pad downtown, and a spray pad at Okeena. There’s not enough money in the grant. It has a maximum of $500,000. It’s not feasible in my opinion.”
“I think when you look at the Bruce community pool, it may be an eyesore to some, but when I come home, it looks like so much neglect is over there,” said Lonnie Gauldin. “On the east side and the west side. I don’t fault anybody in this room. Time, economics, poverty plays an issue.
“Some of our people just don’t know the process of government or how things work economically. But to take the pool is like taking the gut out of that community.”
Morgan added, “When there is concern about maintenance on the pools, every year in the budget there is stuff for Bruce and for Future City. Let me tell you, they put it in, and it’s not Andy’s fault or the directors’ fault, we take it out. A lot of the time, we take it out. A lot of that is our fault – the aldermen’s fault. A lot of the time we take it out to keep from raising taxes. It has been there for a lot of stuff, so I wanted to just defend the department.”
Glover encouraged a compromise.
“Can we do a grant that would get the pool like it is supposed to be, do a water park [splash pad] at the Farmers Market, where everybody can see what it’s going to look like for the first round? By the time we get it in, you’re going to be at the two years almost. Then, come back in 2 years and apply for the water park if that’s what we have a feel for? That would be a compromise, but then again, you’re moving forward.
Agreeing with Glover’s statement, Mayor Holden made a motion to change the projects, which were the 3 proposed splash pads, and apply for the LPRF Grant with the projects to repair Bruce Pool and a spray park at the downtown Farmers Market/ River Park area. Glover seconded the motion. All recreation committee members voted in favor. The recommendation will be brought before the full board of Mayor and Aldermen on Monday, April 16 at 7 p.m. during the board’s bimonthly convening. If the board approves the new projects, they will be included in the grant application and sent to the state for their review.
Mayor Holden also noted the resurfacing of the floor needed for the wading pool at Future City, which he said could be repaired out of the budget process.
With no further discussion, the meeting was adjourned.