Council to hold public hearing on outdoor pool

The New Prague Times The New Prague City Council will hold a public hearing at its Tuesday, Feb. 20, meeting about the New Prague Area Community Pool. The council’s consensus on holding the public hearing was made at its Monday, Feb. 5, meeting where it discussed the possible closure of the outdoor swimming pool.

Council member Maggie Bass explained the chair of the Joint Powers Board asked the council to discuss the possible closure of the pool. The Joint Powers Board is made up of representatives from the city and the New Prague Area School District and it operates the community pool and the New Prague Aquatic Center. There are several concerns for why the outdoor pool is being considered for closure. Among them are that the pool is outdated; swimming classes are no longer held there; the outdoor pool is not aesthetically pleasing and it is hard to staff both facilities. Bass noted the number of lifeguards has increased, but it would still be a struggle to staff both pools. There are also monetary concerns. Also, New Prague Community Education would like to know if the outdoor pool will be open so it will know whether or not to have it mentioned in its next publication.

Bass said the Joint Powers Board voted 4-1 to close the outdoor pool with one member absent.

She and fellow council member Shawn Ryan have received emails from residents about the outdoor pool. Bass said the majority of her emails have been in favor of closing the pool.

Council member Dave Bruzek asked Public Works Director Glen Sticha if it was possible to keep the outdoor pool open another summer and what problems were there. Sticha replied it was possible, besides the known problems, including a leak in the pool, they didn’t know of any others. He noted a filter for the pool was fine today, but it was like any equipment and could break.

The school district had.....

To see more on this story pick up the February 8, 2018 print edition of The New Prague Times.