Divided committee favors Jefferson School site for aquatic center

A divided committee voted Wednesday to recommend the City of Cape Girardeau construct an indoor aquatic center near Jefferson Elementary School in partnership with the local school district.

The recommendation came on a 4-2 vote after lengthy discussion at the meeting, held at the Osage Centre.

The recommendation will now go to the city council and the school board in January. Both entities would have to approve the proposal for the project to proceed, officials said.

City manager Scott Meyer, Mayor Box Fox, Cape Girardeau schools superintendent Neil Glass and school board President Kyle McDonald voted for the Jefferson School site.

Committee members Clayton Hahs, representing the interests of competitive swimming teams, and Cape Girardeau resident Kathy Bertrand cast the dissenting votes.

Both Hahs and Bertrand said they wanted to further study all three potential sites to determine which one would be best. The other two locations: a site near the SportsPlex and a site at Osage Park.

But Glass and members of the audience at the public meeting expressed support for the Jefferson School site.

Glass said building an aquatic center at the Jefferson School site could help improve the city's impoverished south-side neighborhood. "We have an opportunity to revitalize the community," he said.

Ward 2 Councilwoman Shelly Moore represents the struggling neighborhood, which is home to many of the city's black residents.

Moore, who is black, said 6,000 residents live in her ward. Many of them believe the "scale is unbalanced" when it comes to the city constructing new facilities. Such facilities typically are built elsewhere in the city, she said.

She told the committee she has seen "failure and disappointment" in regard to the city's south side year after year.

Jefferson School principal Leigh Ragsdale said the aquatic center is key to helping revitalize the area. Others in the audience said south-side residents want the facility built near the elementary school.

Former councilman Joe Uzoaru said the previous council, on which he served, bought land adjacent to Jefferson School, at the corner of Highway 74 and West End Boulevard, as a site for an aquatic center.

"The community pool was to be built at Jefferson," he told the committee.

Uzoaru said council members wanted a community pool to replace the aging Central Municipal Pool, not an expansive, regional facility that would benefit competitive swimmers and wealthy business interests, but not the community at large.

Glass said after the meeting city officials at one time told him the city was committed to building an aquatic center at that site.

But Fox disagreed over whether city officials previously decided on the Jefferson School site.

Even after voters approved a parks/stormwater tax in April, city staff repeatedly said a site had yet to be chosen and charged the committee to recommend the site and scope of the project.

But Uzoaru said the previous council refused to fund a $20 million facility that would serve perhaps 350 competitive swimmers.

The council, he said, did not want a 50-meter pool that would cost $1.2 million a year to operate.

"I truly believe that the only real partner we have is the Cape public schools," he said.

Jackson contractor Phil Penzel recently said the City of Jackson might be willing to partner in development of an aquatic center adjacent to the SportsPlex.

But Fox said Jackson Mayor Dwain Hahs told him Jackson city officials are "not in a position to make any commitment now" and any decision might not happen for one to two years.

Both Fox and Glass stressed the 40-year partnership Cape Girardeau city and school district have had in the operation of Central Municipal Pool, located next to the junior high school.

Both said they want the partnership to continue regarding a new aquatic center to replace the aging Central Municipal Pool.

The city has pledged $6 million toward the project. Glass said the district would contribute $4 million, if a no-tax-increase bond issue is approved by voters in April.

That would provide a combined $10 million to build the center.

School officials have said the district also would pay part of the operating costs as it does with Central Municipal Pool. The city pays 60 percent of the operating costs, and the school district pays the other 40 percent.

Over months of discussion and advice from consultants, committee members had hoped to build a facility encompassing both a 50-meter competitive pool and a sizable leisure pool.

But the price tag has proved too high, although Glass and others on the committee said it is possible additional partners or grants could be found to expand the project.

Consultant David Sprague, who attended via a conference call, said a pared-down, 25,600-square-foot facility could include a 25-yard competitive pool, a small warm-water pool for other activities, limited locker rooms and office space, and a small lobby.

Even then, construction could cost more than $10 million, he said.

Meyer, the city manager said, "You have to take out the leisure pool to get down to $10 million."

mbliss@semissourian.com

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