PORT ANGELES — The William Shore Memorial Pool District now owns the pool it is named after.
The board of the metropolitan park district unanimously approved the transfer of ownership of the William Shore Memorial Pool from the city of Port Angeles on Wednesday after it was joined by its fifth member, Gary Holmquist.
Two of the members of the commission, City Council member Cherie Kidd and Clallam County Commissioner Mike Doherty, participated in the meeting via speakerphone.
Holmquist is the production manager at Nippon Paper Industries USA mill and was Save the Pool PA’s election coordinator.
Although the pool at 225 E. Fifth St. is now the park district’s property, the city will continue to operate it for the rest of the year.
The agreement that transfers ownership also states the city will continue to operate the facility as a public swimming pool — but will be reimbursed by the park district for those costs.
Getting organized
The commissioners and the City Council agreed to this arrangement because the park district — which came into existence June 3 after voters within the Port Angeles School District boundaries approved its formation — is still getting itself organized.
City Council members Dan Di Guilio and Kidd are the council’s appointees to the commission, and they recused themselves from the council’s discussion and vote on that agreement.
The effective date of the agreement is June 3, and based upon estimates from city Finance Director Yvonne Ziomkowski, the amount the park district will pay the city for funding the pool for the rest of the year will be $281,039.
The park district’s total expenses for the remainder of the year will be about $340,000, said Charles McClain, who was hired as the park district’s finance manager at the meeting.
Additional costs
The additional costs include insurance, funding the election on the creation of the park district — which cost $49,370 — and legal, financial and clerk services.
Those expenses will be covered by a loan of up to $750,000 from Clallam County the commissioners approved at the meeting. The loan comes with an interest rate of 2.85 percent; interest is to be collected monthly.
Wells Fargo and First Federal also proposed loans.
The Clallam County commission’s representatives on the pool commission, Mike Chapman and Doherty, recused themselves from the discussion and vote on the loan at the meeting.
As well as hiring McClain, the commission also approved hiring Attorney Craig Miller of Port Angeles as legal counsel and Clallam County for clerk services at the meeting.
Miller’s cost to the park district is $175 per hour. He also is the attorney for Clallam Transit, Olympic Medical Center and the Sequim Aquatic Recreation Center.
McClain’s fee is $200 per month.
Clerk services
Clallam County is charging the park district $33 per hour for clerk services. County Administrator Jim Jones said that is the same rate that the county pays its clerks — which will act as clerks for the park district — including benefits.
Doherty and Chapman also recused themselves from the discussion and vote on the clerk services at the meeting.
Although the commission put the loan out for bid, Di Guilio, the commission’s chairman, said after the meeting that requests for bids were not sought for legal, financial and clerk services.
“We made contact with people in the community” who had experience, he said, “and asked them to submit a proposal.”
Chapman said the commission isn’t required to seek bids for those services.
Voters approved the creation of the park district in the May 19 election for it to fund the pool through a property tax levy estimated at 15 cents per $1,000 assessed valuation.
The park district shares the same boundaries as the school district.
The city discontinued funding for the pool March 30 because of budget constraints.
The gap between the pool’s revenue and its expenses was covered by $60,500 in donations raised by Save the Pool PA from April through the week of June 5.
The levy, once the amount is decided, will take effect Jan. 1.
The park district will use the loan to cover its costs before it receives revenue from property taxes.
The owner of a $200,000 home — the median price within the park district — will pay about $30 per year for the pool tax if the commissioners set the rate as estimated.
The four initial commissioners — Di Guilio, Kidd, Chapman and Doherty — approved the selection of Holmquist unanimously after he was interviewed at the meeting.
“I’m very excited by the opportunity to be part of something that is really being grown from the ground on up,” Holmquist said during the interview.
Holmquist was Save the Pool PA’s recommendation for the commission, Chapman said.
Two other Save the Pool PA members, John Shield and Thomas Bock, also applied. Shield was also interviewed at the meeting, but Bock was unable to attend.
The commissioner’s will select up to seven members for the park district’s citizen advisory committee at it next meeting at 3 p.m. July 28 in room 160 of the Clallam County Courthouse, 223 E. Fourth St., Port Angeles.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
