What a life
July 14, 2019
Monday evening Cleo goes to the door to let the cats in and out. "Oh my God,' she said, "You have to see this." I get to the door and on our porch eating the leftover cat food were a momma and five baby skunks.
We tipped off all the missing family members to watch out coming in. Jaylyn got in without incident. When Justin got home there was still one on the porch. Justin watched the baby skunk and every time it backed into something it would jump about a foot. Justin decided that the rest of the skunks slipped off hoping their silly sibling couldn't find them.
They haven't been back as of Thursday evening, but in case they do, please put your orders for baby skunks in early.
Happy anniversary to Cleo. What a sweetie! This is 51, but who's counting.
On to more serious things, i.e. $2.6 million of swimming pool. First, let me say a no vote on the funding proposal is NOT a no vote for a pool. I just think a little more time should be spent on funding and options on the pool. The city has put the burden on property owners to pay for this. (This plan takes 10 years to pay out). The only recourse for property owners to absorb the loss is to charge more for services if they have any, like landlords could charge more rent, or eat cheaper.
My favorite funding is to raise the sales tax to 10 percent. It would bring in $689,000 to $750,000 a year. (This makes a three- to five-year payout, and cuts interest in half, saving $240,000). The great thing about this plan is after the pool is paid out, the money could be put into a rainy day fund for future projects and not in the general fund, or be voted out of existence.
Sure three-quarters of a percent is a lot, but the man from Uruguay I met at the doctor's office Wednesday said theirs is 23 percent. At first, it seems like the ruin of Alva business, but when is the last time the average person even asked how much it was or drove somewhere for cheaper sales tax?
One other plan is for a family or business to step up and put their name on the building with a major donation. There are some other funding possibilities that have been looked into and might come through.
Let's look at the city cost estimates. Bathhouse renovations are $650,000, over a half million dollars to make it OSHA compliant? That's a lot for concrete, plumbing and stalls. I think local vendors should be contacted about performing these tasks. $250,000 for play/shade areas. These should be run by parents of the kids that will use them the most. It may or may not be a good quarter million dollar expense.
The pool itself is a no-brainer. All the new equipment that needs to be bought will have to be purchased, either way, so no added expense there. The cost of removing the old pool would go a long way to repairing it. I have looked at the pictures of the "settling," and with proper support pylons installed it will last for many more generations.
It's a shame the guys I worked with on the county aren't here anymore. To Max, me, and the others it would be just another bridge to shore up.
On a personal note, I have heard a few people say it is one of the largest pools in Oklahoma and what is wrong with that? I cannot be at the meeting on Monday, so please attend in my place. Again, I think we should take a long hard look at funding options, repair against replacement costs, and the time frames to do replacement against repair.
I wish to thank Joe Don (Dunham) for the information he supplied me about this project. Some of it I used in this story, and whatever happens, thanks for taking the time to get this right.
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