The advisory board for Juneau’s two municipal swimming pools wants its mandate extended for at least another year.
Juneau’s outgoing parks and recreation director said the Aquatics Board has run its course.
When the Juneau Assembly meets March 14, assembly members will decide the fate of the Aquatics Board, which was was created following a 2014 referendum approved by voters.
Many were upset by the prospect of the city closing the downtown swimming pool.
The board was and remains a strong advocate for downtown swimming, board chairman Max Mertz said.
The Aquatics Board made its case in a memo to the Assembly’s finance committee.
“We’ve worked hard to make sure that Augustus Brown pool stays open, we want it to stay open,” Mertz said Thursday. “We’ve worked to get additional funding for renovation to Augustus Brown pool. We’ve worked hard to make sure that programs are as well-supported as possible, and I think without the board there, those will be de-emphasized as they were before the board was formed.”
Outgoing Parks and Recreation director Kirk Duncan said he doesn’t see it that way.
He credits the board for its community outreach, but said a lot of progress is thanks to his staff, especially the aquatics director who was hired following the referendum.
“The whole attitude has changed and the pool board is worried that if they go away all of the sudden we’ll revert to some kind of negative operations or whatever,” Duncan said. “I think that there’s enough progress has been made that people can feel confident that the pools will be adequately staffed and properly run.”
The Aquatics Board was pitched to be an empowered board that could hire and fire its own director. Eaglecrest Ski Area has a similar arrangement.
Instead, the Assembly assigned the director of parks and recreation to the board but didn’t empower it.
The Aquatics Board recommended this week that the Assembly either make it a fully empowered board or consider contracting the downtown pool out to a third-party nonprofit.
Mertz said the board has been in talks with the Anchorage Community YMCA as a possible partner.
“It could potentially save money and that’s part of this process that we’re recommending that the Assembly do,” he said. “It’s due diligence process to further evaluate what the options are.”
Duncan is vehemently opposed, saying that managing swimming pools is a core part of what his department does.
“I think that while the (YMCA) runs pools very successfully, I think having local control of a local operation makes more sense,” he said.
Duncan has announced his retirement; his last day as director is May 11.
His successor George Schaaf said he’s a big fan of the pools, but he’s still studying the issue.
“I feel strongly that they are a tremendously important part of the community,” Schaaf said Thursday. “Kirk is the director and until I’m in a position where I can get a little bit more information and actually talk to the staff and other stakeholders, I really can’t comment any more on it and would really defer to Kirk on it.”
If the Assembly takes no action, then the Aquatics Board will be dissolved May 28.
Editor’s note: Both Kirk Duncan and George Schaaf sit on KTOO’s board of directors.
