Patrons of the Jefferson swimming pool will have two family restrooms available and will also be able to walk through the bath house directly to the pool when the pool opens for the 2022 season.
The Jefferson city council at its regular meeting Jan. 11 approved a recommendation from the Jefferson park and recreation board to hire Atura Architecture for services related to improvements at the bath house.
Park and rec director Denny Hammen said the project will primarily be moving interior walls in the existing bath house. The result will be a family restroom on the east (men’s) side and one on the west (women’s) side. There will also be access to the pool for those who arrive wearing swimsuits and ready to swim. The plan uses plumbing that’s already in place.
The council approved $8,700 for architectural/engineering services. The total project cost is $101,800. Hammen said after the meeting that in hiring those services done, the council intends to see the project to completion.
The family restrooms are the park and rec board’s solution to the dilemma of respecting the rights and needs of all pool patrons, including transgender patrons.
The council also agreed with a recommendation from the park and recreation board to hire OPN Architects to complete a needs assessment and master planning of an indoor pool on the grounds of the Greene County Community Center.
Hammen reminded the council that Jefferson park and recreation department received an $850,000 bequest from the Autenreith family, and the park and rec board has had hours of discussion about how to use the funds. He said members of the community have suggested that the money be used for an indoor pool.
The board is concerned about what fundraising would be needed. “There ended up being more questions than there were answers, but we decided to take part of the money to do a feasibility study,” Hammen said.
OPN’s proposal for services is in three phases, with the first phase including surveying the community to determine the need/desire for a pool, do preliminary planning, and develop a preliminary construction cost estimate. Cost for Phase 1 planning is $13,300.
Council member Matt Wetrich is on the park and recreation board. “We’ve been looking at this option to get ourselves something to work off of. This may not come to fruition in the next year or few years, but it’s something to talk about for many years. We’d know what we need to do to make it a reality,” Wetrich said.
The study will also provide an idea of operating expenses for the pool should it be built.
Park and rec board president Tracy Deal said, “It would be something to put out to the public to say ‘this is what it would take to build a pool’.”
