The Lassen County Board of Supervisors narrowly approved a five-year extension of the joint powers agreement that created the Honey Lake Valley Recreation Authority, including extending the county’s $80,000 yearly contribution to the pool.
District 3 Supervisor and board president Gary Bridges joined District 1 Supervisor (and HLVRA president ) Mike Scanlan, and District 4 Supervisor (and HLVRA board member) Tom Neely for the three aye votes. District 5 Supervisor Jason Ingram and District 4 Supervisor Aaron Albaugh voted nay.
In order to take effect, the extension needs to be approved by the Susanville City Council. The council has not yet agendized the authority’s funding request.
Mayor Mendy Schuster and Councilmember Dawn Miller both also serve on the HLVRA board and are expected to vote aye when the matter comes before the council. If they both vote aye, hey would need one more aye vote from Councilmembers Patrick Parrish, Curtis Bortle or Jerry Hibbitts for the extension to take effect.
Several public members spoke in support of the pool. No member of the public spoke in opposition.
Scanlan told the supervisors continuing the funding was necessary for the pool’s survival.
Neely said he’s used the pool since he was 8 years old. He said as a youngster he would play with his friends at Memorial Park in the morning, and in the afternoon, they would ride their bikes to the pool.
He said the pool has been a great asset to the community for a number of years, helping seniors and youth alike — community members who “would get the short end of the stick” if the pool closed.
“It’s a great thing,” Neely said. “They (the authority’s board) know they have a challenge to find a funding source.”
Bridges called this a tough decision. He remembered his timber faller days when he would spend a lot of time at Roosevelt Pool during the winter to stay in shape. He said he thought the decision to tear down the old Roosevelt Pool was a mistake, and now “everyone’s paying for it.”
He wondered how many lives have been saved because someone learned to swim in the pool, and he said one life is worth it.
He said it’s time for the community to come together and plan for the pool’s future because today’s action “is just a Bandaid.”
Ingram said his is the only district that doesn’t touch the city of Susanville, and he added pools are generally funded by local government entities. He added his constituents do no use the pool.
Ingram noted the financial constraints facing the city and that the supervisors recently gave up their $20,000 discretionary funds in order to balance the budget.
Albaugh said when the JPA was formed the county and the city set the program up for success, but apparently that didn’t work out.
He said while the county provides $80,000 per year in funding for the Susanville pool, the Big Valley pool receives only $20,000 per year, and that funding comes from tobacco settlement money. He said this wasn’t fair and the county should give more money to the Big Valley pool. He also noted much of the work at the Big Valley pool is handled by volunteers
He said the county’s $80,000 contribution could fund a county employee, and he thought the city should take over the operation of the pool.
Albaugh asked that the item include increased funding for the Big Valley pool, but since that was not part of the agenda, the board could not entertain that eventuality at today’s meeting.
Source Lassen News
