Every Friday in our newsletter until the Friday before election day, we’re including a feature called “Weekly Question With Your Candidates.” Fort Myers Beach voters will fill three open seats in November. There are now four candidates. This week we asked the candidates about the Bay Oaks pool.
Tom Brady:
“There are still too many unanswered questions for the Town to commit funding for the pool. Until BORCAB, the committee charged with reviewing the project, has completed its due diligence and made a recommendation, I do not believe the project should move forward. They should be provided with whatever resources they need to complete their review.
“I am encouraged that BORCAB members are asking the right questions—not only about the upfront construction cost, but also about the ongoing operating and maintenance expenses. They should take whatever time is necessary to fully evaluate those issues before making a recommendation.
“I would favor a facility that meets the community’s basic needs without unnecessary expense. We have other important priorities competing for limited resources, including return of the Beach School.”
Anita Cereceda:
“The prudent thing to do about the pool at this moment is to PAUSE.
“What came to light in this week’s BORCAB meeting gives me reason for concern. Yes, the images presented by Opulent were lovely but they did not reflect the reality of the exisitng pool b structure. Lovely pictures but misleading as to what the town would might expect to be built. More importantly, too many questions are unanswered…basic questions about the viability to rehabilitate of the existing pool shell. No engineering, no budget, no lighting and yet $60,000.00 reflected as revenue from the pool (as if it were operational and open) in this year’s budget proposal to council! How did we get here with so much at stake and so little to rely to upon?
“I know there are plenty of folks who want to see the pool opened again…and I realize there is an opportunity to utilize CDBG grant monies, but at what cost? There are simply too many unanswered questions to move forward at this moment.”
Rebecca Link:
“I’m not prepared to say yet what I would like to see done with the pool. I think we need a more clearly defined process before Council makes that decision.
“I would like Council to have a project plan that identifies the options being considered, the costs and operational impacts, the major deliverables and decision points, and what Council is being asked to approve at each stage. We also need to consider BORCAB’s recommendations and the input we’re receiving from residents.
“Once we have that information in front of us, Council can make an informed decision about how—or whether—to proceed. Until then, I don’t think it would be appropriate for me to prejudge the outcome.”
Ed Schoonover
“I believe there should be a pool at Bay Oaks as it is utilized by residents for exercise and swimming lessons among other things. With a grant paying for some rendition of the pools construction I think it’s imperative as a quality of life issue that the town moves forward. I think the town heard from the residents that they don’t need or want some of the features that were proposed. The town should certainly move forward with soil borings and checking the integrity of the lap pool shell. Some money should be set aside for improvements to the shower/bathroom areas if the grant indeed covers that.
“As for operations, the town needs to find a formula that supplies our residents with this amenity while keeping costs down to the goal of being somewhat revenue neutral. There are several ways to achieve this, some are already being discussed at the council level.”
Read what the candidates think about higher fees HERE.
NOTE: We do not plan to host any additional debates before Election Day. We will stream any debate that is scheduled if the hosting organization would like us to. We have offered each of the 4 candidates a one hour solo interview on one of our Saturday or Sunday shows. Details on those to follow.
It is difficult to understand why the Town would consider taking on the substantial additional financial commitment of a large pool at Bay Oaks when the Town is already carrying the significant ongoing cost of operating and maintaining the Bay Oaks facility itself.
While the availability of a grant may help offset the initial construction costs, the grant does not eliminate the long-term operating costs associated with a pool. Those costs will inevitably include insurance, utilities, chemicals and other pool supplies, routine maintenance and repairs, pool cleaning, landscaping, additional staffing/lifeguards, etc. These are recurring costs that taxpayers will ultimately be responsible for long after the grant funds have been spent.
More broadly, I continue to be concerned about the Town’s approach to making financial decisions. When the Town faces budget shortfalls, the solution should not automatically be to increase the tax burden on residents. Difficult financial decisions sometimes require evaluating whether certain facilities or services should be sold, leased, consolidated, reduced, or even discontinued when their ongoing costs cannot be justified.
Bay Oaks is already a significant expense to taxpayers, as is the Mound House. Adding another substantial ongoing financial obligation to the Town’s budget without first addressing the costs of those facilities and resources we already operate does not appear to be a fiscally responsible approach.
Town officials were elected to make difficult decisions on behalf of all taxpayers, including decisions that may not always be popular. Those decisions should ALWAYS be based on sound financial analysis, long-term sustainability, and what is in the best overall interest of the community—not simply on whether a particular project would be desirable to a minority portion of taxpayers.
We need Town leadership that approaches these decisions with the same fiscal discipline that a successful business would use: look at the complete financial picture, prioritize essential services, evaluate the return and necessity of every major expenditure, and make difficult decisions when the numbers simply and clearly do not support the expense.
Please listen to the concerns of the broader taxpayer community and make decisions based on long-term financial sustainability rather than simply adding another desirable amenity to an already strained budget.
The question isn’t whether folks would “like to have” a beautiful new pool, it needs to be whether the Town can afford to own, operate, maintain, insure, and staff that pool for decades to come—and whether that is truly the best use of taxpayers’ money.
Wake Up FMB Candidates !!!!!
Every “Ground Level Pool” on FMB will eventually be filled up with Ocean water, sand, and debris AGAIN in the future ! Just look at Margaritaville, but we (FMB) don’t have the budget to keep repairing it after every seasonal water storm type surge each year, AND the other contributing factor, the islands storm surge drains are still plugged with past hurricane sludge / debris. Don’t waste our tax payer money fixing it every time it happens or the cost of maintaining a swimming pool pleasure that we can’t afford ! Quit spending Millions of Dollars on a ground level pool that will never last !
In the time of global warming and certainty of more frequent overpowering storms, what should rise to question:
To pool or not to pool, that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to beware against a sea of troubles
– With apologies to Willy Shakespear.