STARKVILLE — The pool at Moncrief park is up for debate once again.
At Tuesday night’s board of aldermen meeting, in which the board unanimously approved issuing $15 million in bonds for parks projects, the conversation about the parks master plan segued into a lengthy discussion about the city’s public pool.
Aldermen were looking at cost estimates for the comprehensive Parks and Recreation Department master plan, which has been in the works since 2016 and has a target budget of $13.5 million. The target budgets in the master plan included about $7.5 million for McKee Park, $1 million for J.L. King, $2 million for Needmore/George Evans, $3 million for the Travis Outlaw Center and only $150,000 for Moncrief Park.
The bonds will be repaid primarily through the parks department’s portion of the tourism sales tax, collected as a 3-percent sales tax at restaurants and hotels/motels. The departmen claims 40 percent of a 2-percent tax that is split among several entities. In 2019, voters approved an additional 1 percent, all of which goes to parks. The latter also funded the ongoing Cornerstone Park construction off Highway 25.
After seeing the budget, Ward 5 Alderman Hamp Beatty asked about the “plan for Moncrief Park,” particularly concerning the aging pool.
“When we don’t consider rounding out the comprehensive nature of our recreation offerings of the city of Starkville, which would include a really nice swimming pool, we’re not being visionary,” Beatty said. “When we’re finding ways to spend $6.5 million on McKee Park, and $4 million over here and $1.5 million over here, and a pool is nowhere in sight in all of that … I guess I just don’t understand.”
The pool at Moncrief park is more than 70 years old, and talks of repairs to stop leaking have been ongoing for months. Associate City Engineer Chris Williams presented repair options for the pool at a January work session. He estimated that the repairs could cost between $20,000 and $400,000, depending on the method used to stop the leakage.
At that work session, aldermen also briefly discussed exploring what it would cost to build a new public pool elsewhere in the city and if there was enough demand for such an investment — an effort Beaty then said he supported.
Mayor Lynn Spruill said Tuesday the issue has not been overlooked, but the pool is not a high priority due to low usage over the past several years.
“We have looked at the numbers that have used the pool over the past couple of years … but also more recently with the change of the school year, we don’t know when we’re going to have usage in the park,” Spruill said. “… I struggle with whether or not it is a reasonable use of a huge amount of public dollars.”
Ward 2 Alderman Sistrunk said the pool at Moncrief Park could not achieve what a new pool at a different location would achieve. She said a new pool could be successful, if it were installed at the Sportsplex or J.L. King Park, where parking is more available and demand is higher.
Sistrunk also pointed to the splash pad at J.L. King as an example of how the city can take the community’s needs for water recreation into consideration without the high operating costs of a pool.
“While we’re not focused on a pool, we have tried to focus on trying to provide some water-related activities,” she said. “The splash pad at J.L. King is used considerably, and by expanding it, we will have an opportunity to entertain a larger group of people there. Adding a splash pad at McKee would also give you an opportunity to have another water-related activity.”
Sistrunk said the splash pad is “similarly enjoyable” to a pool but does not need staff or as much insurance to operate.
Ward 3 Alderman Rupp, who commented “my inability to swim is only rivaled by my inability to dance,” agreed with Sistrunk that the J.L. King splash pad has been successful and another could be helpful at McKee Park.
“I’ll say this a year from now and nothing may have been done on it, but I’m going to go on record, newspapers, that I keep beating the drum for a new public swimming facility for the city of Starkville,” Beatty said, addressing media present during the meeting. “I’d like some support and some help on the board for us to find a way or some plans to be able to do this.”
Vice Mayor Roy A. Perkins adamantly disagreed with Beatty, saying the board had to consider the demand for the swimming pool and the cost to the taxpayer before anything else.
“All this boils down to a policy and a budgetary decision, and I have not been presented with any evidence of any strong demand for a swimming pool,” Perkins said. “… We are the guardians of the taxpayers’ purse.”
Perkins said “hereafter,” his vote will be no to a swimming pool.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 48 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 48 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
Join the Discussion