TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) – A deal to reopen the Vigo County YMCA pool has the city footing the bill for utilities and maintenance.
Terre Haute Mayor Duke Bennett made the announcement at a news conference at the pool Friday morning. As part of the deal, the city will take over utility expenses and maintenance, while the YMCA will handle staffing.
“We’re gonna pay for the utilities related to the pool and a little bit additional maintenance,” explained Bennett. “Like the daily maintenance, chemicals, pool supplies, you know those kinds of things.”
No tax increase will be needed to pay for the pool, according to information obtained at the news conference. Bennett says the funding will cost the city around $50,000 to $75,000 a year. This deal will be part of a new two-year lease starting Sept. 1.
The Vigo County
YMCA pool closed
in 2018. Bennett said earlier this year that
operating expense
s were the reason the YMCA closed the pool.
YMCA CEO Ryan Penrod says during the last year membership has decreased due to the closing of the pool.
“We lost about 200 hundred members because the pool was closed last year,” he explained. “So we anticipate that there will be, we hope to recapture those individuals as well as hopefully additional members beyond that.”
In May, Bennett said a
tentative verbal deal
between the city and YMCA to reopen the pool was reached.
The new lease deal will must be signed by the Terre Haute Park and Recreation Board and city Board of Public Works.
An opening date for the pool has not been provided, however residents in the Make Waves group, an organization of seniors who rallied for funding, are feeling victorious.
“It means that I’ll be able to walk and move and not be confined to a wheelchair because I’ve got hardening of the spine,” said Make Waves member Linda Lou Rogers. “So this will give me mobility again.”
