The City of Yuma’s swimming pool project now is in a holding pattern while city leaders figure out revenue streams.
The council went over the swimming pool feasibility and conceptual design package with Christa Plaza of Essenza Architecture last week during its regular meeting.
Mayor Tim McClung, Mayor Pro-tem Jerome Benish, Dan Baucke and Marc Shay were in attendance. Zach Diaz, Vanessa Dischner and Terri Frame were absent.
A conceptual drawing was part of the presentation, incorporating ideas presented by the public in an online survey conducted earlier this year.
Plaza said everything from the survey was included in the preliminary plans. It includes two climbing walls, a slide, two diving boards, a lazy river, a play structure in the shallow end, three lap swim lanes, numerous shaded structures, a renovated bath house and more.
Essenza had just received all the cost estimates, and had not been able to completely vet those before the meeting, but the cost is above $7 million.
“Now is the time to scale back,” Plaza said. “…This pool has just about everything they wanted in the survey.”
She explained Essenza prefers starting out with the pricing and the scale back to meet the targeted budget. She said there are many ways to reduce the project scope.
McClung said now the city has to figure out what it can afford, and decide what to take out. It was noted that in 2024, a 1-percent sales tax generated just under $1 million. There was discussion about a bond issue and if a sales tax would be enough to finance the bonds.
It was noted a decision would have to be made soon if the city was to have a ballot question in the November election. As for grants, they would not be awarded until 2026 after the election.
McClung told Plaza that his wild guess is the pool project would have to be in the $3.5 million range. Plaza said Essenza will design it to budget.
Lett Motel
The council and City Attorney Kathryn Sellars discussed what could be done with the dilapidated Lett Motel on W. Second Ave.
The city had sent a letter to the owners in May that they had until July 10 to take action with the building. It was mentioned that the owners want to restore the structure, and are working with the history commission.
Sellars explained it would take a couple of steps for the city to demolish the building. It would have to hire someone to test for asbestos, then have it abated before getting a demolition permit.
The city would have to get a judgment from municipal court to foreclose the property.
The council unanimously approved a motion to proceed with preparing and delivering by certified letter to the owners a notice of the council’s intent to remediate the property.
Grant decision
The council considered and then decided against partnering with local residents in applying for a Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) grant
Shane Galles is leading an effort to secure funding for new lighting at Yuma High School’s football field, softball field, baseball field and practice field. He and MaryLu Smith-Dischner have gone to the city asking if it would submit the grant. Yuma School District-1 supports the effort, but only the city or county can apply for a GOCO grant. Galles said he would go to the county with the request but wanted to ask the city first.
Interim City Manager Karma Wells said the staff thinks there is not enough time at the moment to write a grant for someone else. She also mentioned it is not clear if it would hurt the city’s chance for a GOCO grant for the swimming pool.
Council members said they would like to help but there is the concern it would hurt the city’s own GOCO efforts.
A motion to not be the fiscal agent for the lights project passed on a 3-1 vote, with McClung casting the dissenting vote.
Positive audit
Matthew Miller with McMahan & Associates presented the 2024 audit to the council.
He said the city received a clean audit opinion, and that the council is receiving good financial information from its staff to make sound budget decisions.
Miller pointed out the ending fund balance was $4.5 million, which is close to 9 months worth of operating costs in the General Fund. Annual operating expenses in the General Fund was $5.3 million. The Enterprise Funds are operating close to even.
More meeting
• The council unanimously approved a motion to contract Adjusters International to help bridge the gap in regards to repairs yet to be done after the May 2, 2024 hail storm. The adjuster for the city’s insurance carrier CIRSA is placing replacement costs more than $1 million less than what contractors say needs to be done. Adjusters International will work with the CIRSA adjuster in resolving the issue.
• A collections service contract with Bonded Business Services Ltd was approved. It is for the Yuma Police Department to try to collect on unpaid tickets, of which Interim Police Chief Curtis Witte said there is a “ton.”
• There was a public hearing before the council unanimously approved the renewal of the fermented malt beverage and wine lince for K-Stores 6 and 7-11, Inc.
• The council unanimously approved to replace the whole air conditioning system in the basement at City Hall, not to exceed $20,000. The work will be done by Quality Heating & Cooling. The council was told replacing just the compressor would be more than $6,000 and would have just a one-year warranty.
• An intergovernmental agreement with Yuma School District-1 for the School Resource Officer services was approved.
• A grant agreement with SIPA for Zoom Room Hardware was approved. The $40,000 grant will pay for a new communications system for council meetings, including new cameras, a microphone system, on-screen translation, and closed captioning.
• The council approved changes to the scope of work with Vortes for the splash pad at City Park. There is no price change, but some parts of the original agreement needed to be verified.
• There was discussion about extending electricity to hangars at the Yuma Municipal Airport. A decision was tabled until the council had more information on what it would cost to cover the whole airport.
• An executive session was held at the end of the meeting, lasting about one hour. It was two-fold, one reason being receiving legal advice concerning FMLA and the use of other accrued and available leave, and the other was to discuss the possible purchase of property.
• The council adjourned after reconvening in open meeting.