Cordova residents and elected officials alike are reeling from a full summer without pool access, emphasizing the importance of indoor recreation spaces in town.
Sierra Westing, a Cordova Iceworm swimmer, pleaded during the Cordova City Council’s regular meeting last week that council members prioritize repairing the Bob Korn Memorial Pool.
“The pool means a lot to a lot of people,” she told the council on Aug. 20. “I know (for) some people it doesn’t mean enough for them to come and talk at the City Council meeting but … the pool is a part of their lives here.”
Her parents, who both work with youth, also spoke during the council’s public comment period about how the kids and teenagers they work with are visibly negatively affected without access to the pool.
The last of the Westing family to address the council was the youngest one.
“When I get into the water and just start swimming, I feel so good and I feel relaxed,” younger brother Drake Westing told council members. “If we could get the pool back going again, that would mean a lot to everyone on the swim team, and that would mean a lot to me and my family too.”
Apart from the Westing family, three other community members spoke at the Aug. 20 council meeting urging the city to prioritize pool repairs.
City officials announced back in May that they would have to close the pool indefinitely because of a leak issue, and then in July diagnosed it as a valve gasket failure.
But the latest update from the city’s Parks and Recreation Department indicated that the problem was actually more than just a failed gasket – that there are actually other leaks suspected behind the pool shell.
Samantha Hagerthy-Schneider, the city’s Parks and Recreation Department director, recognized at the Aug. 20 council meeting that not having the pool up and running is displacing a lot of kids, and said department officials are disappointed at the longstanding issues.
City Council members also re-iterated their support for pool programming, emphasizing the importance of survival swim skills in a coastal town. They also noted the pool’s particular importance in Cordova, which sits in a temperate rain forest and averages more than 150 inches of precipitation each year.
Council Member Wendy Ranney said it’s not an option to not have a pool in Cordova.
“The pool is extremely important, and I think that conversation needs to stay at our forefront,” she said.
But, council members also noted that the cost of necessary pool repairs might exceed the funds in the Parks and Recreation Department’s budget.
“These are bonds or property tax items, which is more money out of your pocket,” Council Member Kasey Kinsman said. “Which is great, I’m not saying I don’t support it, I just want people to realistically be thinking there’s a price to it.”
