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The 55-year-old pool, which is run by the Athens Recreation Association, has been facing rising operational costs and a shortage of volunteers, which pose significant challenges for the nonprofit organization. Since then, the association has held several public meetings on the matter, seeking to engage the community and find individuals willing to help manage the pool. Town Supervisor Michael Pirrone described the atmosphere at one of the public meetings as both passionate and concerned.
He said many community members expressed their desires to keep the pool running but added the organization is in need of volunteers and leadership. “It’s clear that this pool means a lot to some people,” Pirrone said. “It’s an organization that really needs people to step up.
No one has come forward at the meetings, so far. While they do have a list of individuals who expressed interest in helping, there hasn’t been much communication.” The board debated whether to wait and see the outcomes of the meetings before moving forward with discussions.
During the meeting, board member Tami Bone said she was unaware there were two separate issues at hand. “It’s a twofold issue: It’s both money and people,” Bone said. “You hear different things, but I think there was an article in the paper about the pool needing to be saved due to financial problems, but now I’m hearing they also need people, too.
Seems like they need volunteers to carry out this mission.” Bone added she supports keeping the pool open, saying it would be a real shame for the community to lose such an important resource. “If there is something this town can do to keep it [the pool] alive, I’d like to explore that,” Bone said.
“It might not be feasible. I just think it’s a real shame if our community didn’t have a pool.” Board member Becky Pine shared similar thoughts, suggesting during the meeting the town could potentially take over the pool.
“I’m not saying we should just give them [the Athens Recreation Association] money,” Pine said. “But if they are going under, we should consider taking it [the pool] over. If we do, that means we’ll have to staff it, maintain it and handle all the other responsibilities that come with managing a pool.
It’s something we should keep in mind.”.
