PORT ANGELES — City staff will recommend the appointment of a temporary board to direct the metropolitan park district formed to support the William Shore Memorial Pool, the only public pool in town, Port Angeles City Manager Kent Myers said
Myers also said that there’s a chance the pool at 225 E. Fifth St. — which was owned by the city but which under district governance will be overseen jointly by the city and Clallam County — will be closed for up to four weeks for maintenance sometime this year.
City and Clallam County staff — along with some elected officials but not enough to constitute a quorum — will hash out Wednesday details of a proposed time line, interlocal agreement and other aspects of forming the district that voters approved last Tuesday, Myers said.
He plans to propose to county officials that a temporary board be set up to operate for 60 to 90 days.
He said it would consist, ideally, of two City Council members, two members of the three-person Board of County Commissioners and one person from the Save the Pool PA committee, which collected donations to fund the pool and pushed hard to get out the vote on the park district.
Myers hopes to have a proposed resolution before the City Council on June 2 but added that no decision could be made without county agreement.
“We hope to have an agreement [this] week. It’s all subject to council and commission approval,” Myers said.
Among the hurdles before the district is operating are a deed for the city to transfer ownership, as well as the interlocal agreement and initial decisions regarding staffing.
One of the first tasks of a district board will be to negotiate a loan to fund the pool until tax revenues come in next year.
Myers said that the city would consider funding maintenance of the district between the time it is formed and the time it can acquire a loan for expenses “only on a reimbursable basis,” with the district repaying the money to the city sometime in the future.
Vote remains same
More than 67 percent of those who voted in the district, which follows the same boundary as the Port Angeles School District, approved the measure that will cost district property owners an estimated 15 cents per $1,000 assessed valuation when taxes begin to be levied in April 2010.
Out of the 19,161 ballots mailed to voters, 10,418 were returned to the auditor’s office by Friday for a turnout of 54.4 percent. The tally was 7,048 — or 67.7 percent — approving the measure, while 3,368 — or 32.3 percent — opposed it.
The election will be certified June 3.
The district will be formed the instant the certification is signed, said Jim Jones, county administrator.
State law gives organizers six months to put a board into place and negotiate such things as liability insurance and — in the case of the Port Angeles district — a loan to keep the pool open.
But donations raised through the efforts of the Save the Pool PA committee will keep the pool operating only through June 15.
The Port Angeles City Council had said that the city could no longer afford the pool’s $450,000 in expenses per year. It would have closed the pool, which has been funded by donations since April 1, on June 15 if the ballot measure had been rejected by voters.
The organization of the district is both complex and new territory, Jones said. It will be unique in the state because it will be overseen by two public entities.
In other words, there’s a lot to do and little time to do it.
“Once the district vote has been certified, it instantly becomes a district, and the complete City Council and board of commissioners are the de facto board — instantly on the stroke of the pen from the auditor,” Jones said.
“Once that board comes into existence, things have to start happening in terms of setting up a new government entity, a junior taxing district.”
No board can be appointed until June 3, when the election is certified, Jones said.
“We can’t do a thing until both the City Council and commissioners agree on what it is we plan to do.”
Jones saw June 15 as a deadline for action because it was his understanding that the pool would close then for its annual two-week maintenance.
When it reopened, it would have to be under the auspices of the park district, he said.
“The big question is, can we get the stuff done in 30 days so that they can re-open July 1 after two weeks closure for maintenance?” Jones said.
Myers, however, said no date has been set for the annual temporary closure of the pool.
He also said that the closure, when it happens, could extend into a four-week hiatus.
The city public works department is suggesting additional maintenance, he said, such as replacing drain covers and painting.
“There’s some additional maintenance that may result in the pool being closed for four weeks instead of two weeks this year,” Myers said.
The possible extended temporary closure is not connected to the formation of the new district but is a matter only of maintenance needs, he said.
The new levy will cost the owner of a $200,000 home — the median price of a home within the school district — about $30 a year.
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Managing Editor Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3531 or leah.leach@peninsuladaily news.com.
