The city this month approved a $100,000 adjustment to the municipal budget in the hopes of expediting the re-opening of the Bob Korn Memorial Swimming Pool, but council members say it’s still not a long-term fix.
“We’re actually not really fixing our pool, we’re putting on a Band-Aid,” Council Member Kasey Kinsman said during the March 4 regular meeting. “It’s a resource we need, I absolutely agree. We’re just going to get to a point where we have to choose what recreation we have … we just can’t have it all.”
The Parks and Recreation Department was forced to close the pool in May 2025 after crews discovered a substantial water leak. In the months since, staff and contractors have continued to work on diagnosing the pool. Most recently, after preliminary repairs, crews filled the pool only to find more issues with drainage and leakage.
The city is expected to receive $343,000 more in revenue this year than they budgeted for, $100,000 of which they’re allocating toward fixes for the pool. City officials say half of that money will pay for Petersons Welding to continue diagnosing the leakage, and the other half will pay for the needed substrate work.
Council members discussed what it would look like to replace the pool entirely, but estimated that could take up to five years to complete.
Council Member Debra Adams said the budget amendment “would close the gap from where we are now to where we want to be.”
“I am willing to spend the money to fix [or] Band-Aid, whatever word you want to use, so that people can get back in the water,” Adams said.
