SEQUIM – Eastern Clallam County’s publicly funded pool and fitness center will soon face competition from a national chain, so its board of commissioners had better get busy fixing the place up, according to two former Sequim Aquatic Recreation Center commissioners.
The two quit in disgust rather than finishing their four-year terms.
“It’s not a question of if competition comes to town, it’s a question of when,” said Dave McArthur, the SARC board member who stepped down last month, following in the footsteps of Bill Black, who resigned earlier this year.
Voters will decide on four SARC positions in the November general election.
“We have not grown as Sequim has grown,” McArthur said, adding that the longer SARC waits to upgrade, the more expensive the construction work will be on the center at 610 N. Fifth Ave.
The board is “hoarding” the money in its bank account instead of strengthening its facilities, McArthur said.
When a competitor – Gold’s Gym, Bally Total Fitness, 24 Hour Fitness – sets up shop in one of Sequim’s shopping centers, SARC could lose hundreds of patrons, and the result could be bankruptcy, added McArthur, a self-employed financial adviser who said he has 40 years of business experience.
The situation, he said, is “insane.”
