2 Mansfield Pools Will Open

MANSFIELD -- Enough donated dollars have come in to open two of Mansfield's larger swimming pools this summer -- Liberty Park and Linden.

But Unity and Ford Hill, two other municipal pools also opened for last year's summer season through donor generosity, will be closed this season.

Mayor Don Culliver announced last week the Richland County Foundation and businessman Dick Taylor embarked on an effort to raise more than $75,000 in donations.

That's "enough to operate two pools," he said.

The donations would cover costs for a contract with the Mansfield YMCA to staff pools for a nine-week swim season, starting Saturday, June 19, City Engineer James DeSanto said. It also would cover payments to the Y to monitor chemicals at the pools, a job formerly done by a city worker who who has retired.

Donations also will help repair or replace some ailing operational equipment, such as pumps, which were becoming an issue, DeSanto said. The city, declared in fiscal emergency last August, has been able to operate its pools over the past two swim seasons only through outside contributions.

Last year the city received $95,000 from donors to open its pools, Deputy Finance Director Denise Kudrak said.

Liberty Park Pool and Linden Pool were selected because nearly three-quarters of the total attendance of 17,000 swimmers last summer came from those two pools, DeSanto said. Between them, Unity and Ford Hill attracted 4,500 swimmers, or 26 percent of the total.

The smaller pools would have had more serious repair needs, DeSanto added.

"It was looking to actually cost us the same or more to operate the two smaller pools as the two bigger pools," he said.

City officials were grateful donors again have been willing to step up with needed money.

"We would encourage anyone interested in making this 2011 season happen to contact the Richland County Foundation or the city, if they are interested in making a donation," DeSanto said. "The city is grateful for their (donors') assistance. But we've also been told that serious consideration has to be given to long-term sustaining of the operational costs of running the pools."

Donors "were feeling squeezed," the mayor told council earlier this week. Officials next year will need to look at the pool fee structure and other means of balancing a pool operations budget, DeSanto said.

"I think that some of those decisions will have to be made at budget time," he commented. "We're grateful for the cooperation and partnership we have with the Mansfield Area Y."