That’s what Assistant Finance Director Jeff Newman told the Town Council Monday. The $630,000 annual cost is based on 4.4 positions at the pool and does not include items like the chlorine needed to operate the pool. How the town would try to offset any of the operaating costs was not discussed Monday.
On Monday, the The Town Council gave staff direction to move forward with the design of the pool with Opulent Outlines. It will include several recommendations from the Bay Oaks Committee such as eliminating a waterall to improve the view corridor for lifeguards, the depth of the pool, and getting an exact cost estimate for exactly what the town will be getting. The Mayor also wants to see more shade structures around the pool.
Mayor Allers said, “Everyone really wants to know what the pool will cost. That needs to be out there before we make a final decision.” Town Manager Will McKannay said he’ll make sure Opulent breaks down the exact cost for everything the town will be getting. In a previously shown video, Opulent included a lot of items that looked very nice but were not included in the cost of the pool which left both the Town Council and Bay Oaks Committee members wondering what they would be getting.
Fort Myers Beach was awarded a little over $13 million in CBDG-DR funds for three projects; the North Island Water Tower, The Bay Oaks Pool and Newton Beach Park. The money is from the federal government (HUD) and administered by Lee County. $4.7 million of the total must be used for the tower, leaving $8.3 million for the park and the pool. At every step of the way, Lee County must approve what the town is doing for each project. The rules to spend the CDBG-DR funds are very strict.
Last month, Opulent representatives told BORCAB committee members the new pool will cost between $4.3 million and $4.5 million. They were shown a video and pictures of the design that was previously presented to the Town Council. A lot of what was presented in the pretty pictures will not be included in the rebuild, such as picnic tables, tiki huts, sail shades, and landscaping. All of those add-ons would come later and a funding mechanism would need to be identified. The committee would have liked to see pictures of exactly what the town would be getting from Opulent for the $4.5 million.
When Opulent’s Jason Tobias was asked how much the new pool would cost to maintain he didn’t have an answer. When he was asked how many lifeguards were needed, he said he would need to get through engineering first. There were no representatives from Opulent at the Town Council meeting Monday to answer questions.
In addition, nobody seems to know if the structure under the pool is stable. BORCAB member John Dussliere, who’s spent his entire professional career around pools, said “100% of the concrete under the pool will need to come up. The tree coming out of the drain tells me it’s rooted into earth.” The pool has not been touched since Hurricane Ian came through 4 years ago and Tobias said the kiddie pool shell is not repairable.
On Monday, Assistant City Clerk Jason Freeman said Opulent has now agreed to do a core sampling to see if the structure is sound to build on. Tobias said last month he had not taken any core samples of the shell to determine if it was safe. His estimate of $4.5 million is based on the shell being sound. “There’s definitely some unknowns in every structure,” Tobias added.
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Bahahahahahaha. They hiring PHD’s? It’s a freaking pool. 250k tops, not 600k.