The Callaway Village Board was recently notified that the village has been approved for a grant to help plan and design a new swimming pool in the community. That process is now getting underway.

Village Board member Lawrence Paulsen serves on the citizens committee tasked with researching the cost and design of constructing a new pool. Paulsen said the town’s current pool was built in 1972, and over the years has had numerous repairs done.

“The pool has about reached its expected life expectancy, from what we’ve been told,” said Paulsen. “We have had to put a new liner in it and have had some cracked pipes. It is just getting old and needs updating, and costs just continue to get higher.”

JEO Consulting from Wahoo was hired by the Village to help conduct a study. “They advised us that the cost of a new pool is going up about 10% a year,” said Paulsen. “They are expensive anyway! So we thought we better get started doing something.”

A committee was formed to begin the process, composed of Paulsen, Village Board member Abe Hinman, and six or seven community members from various backgrounds and areas of interest. “We were tasked with trying to determine what kind of pool the community would like. So we did that and presented our wishes to JEO,” Paulsen explained. “The grant we received is to help pay for the cost of the design and the presentation to the public. They will give us a two-dimensional rendering, and then a three-dimensional rendering as we get closer.”

The plan is to have the design in place by July for the Village Board to approve, then the Village will receive a cost estimate for that design. If the board approves the design and estimate, a proposed bond for the new pool will be placed on Callaway’s general election ballot in November.

“We would be requesting either a property tax bond, a sales tax bond, or some form of both - we haven’t really decided that yet,” Paulsen said. “If the community approves the bond in the election, then we will be out doing some serious fundraising and applying for more grants to help lessen the cost of that bond. We’re hopeful we can have some good fundraisers and donation drives, and get some good grants to help drop the tax side of it.”

Paulsen said the Village Board has been preparing for the project for several years. “The Village has been putting back money for quite a few years now, and is committed to continue to do that to help with the cost of the pool and more rapidly decrease the tax issue.”

The plan is to put the new pool in the same location as the current pool, but with a whole new design. “It is being designed to be more accessible, have a few more features and of course, update the equipment,” Pauls said. “If the community fails to pass this bond, by statute we have to wait two more years to even try again. And not only will the cost go up a lot in that time, but so will the cost of repairs - and we have a lot of repairs that need to be done. It’s one of those things where we either decide to pay up now and get it done, or we’re really going to pay!”

Paulsen said that the general consensus the Village Board has gotten from the public at town hall meetings and other conversations is that people really want a nice pool. “Pools don’t make any money. They are expensive to maintain and operate, and financially they are a loss every year. But it’s one of those features that we feel we have to have in our town,” Paulsen shared.

The estimated cost for the plan and design of the new pool, which the grant will be used for, is $30,000. “None of it is cheap, and you can’t skip steps because I have tried,” Paulsen laughed. “So right now we are just in the process of designing it and pricing all of the features, and hopefully it will come back at a number that the Board can live with. The Board doesn’t want to pass a tax issue any more than anyone else wants to be taxed, but some of it is necessary.”

The Village Board plans to keep the public informed through town hall meetings as the process continues, prior to putting any issue on the ballot. “Our old pool doesn’t even have hot water in the bathrooms other than the shower. It is just antiquated - it’s 1972,” said Paulsen. “Nothing lasts forever.”