MARBLE HILL: CITY TO RENT SPACE FROM ITS NEW MUNICIPAL POOL

MARBLE HILL -- While many towns struggle to keep municipal pools afloat financially, the city of Marble Hill has devised a way to ensure a year-round income for its pool.

City offices, including the police station, will be housed in a complex adjacent to the pool, and the city will rent those offices from the pool fund.

The city's administrative assistant, David Jackson, said the city is paying rent for their present offices. In paying rent to the poll fund, the money will help guarantee an income for the pool even in its off-season, he said.

"You really only use the pool heavily during the three summer months," Jackson said. "But upkeep costs continue throughout the year. I would be afraid to build the pool without an extra source of income."

The pool is not yet built, but ground-breaking has tentatively been set for next week.

Situated in an annexed portion of Pellegrino Park, the pool complex will also include a community room, which will be available for rent, generating even more income for the pool account, Jackson said.

The pool will be likely open during next year's Memorial Day weekend, Jackson said. Construction of the pool will be completed by the end of this summer, he said, but the bathhouse won't.

"The pool is going to be a great recreation activity for the kids," he said. "The only other thing we have in the summer is softball."

Beginning in 1988, the city was given several hundred thousand dollars in a trust fund to build a pool. Construction was set to begin sooner, but heavy rains delayed most of the work.

The money was donated by the late Larma Wisely. In her will, drawn up in 1976, she left half of her estate to the city and the other half to relatives and the American Cancer Society. Wisely's brother, Frank Pellegrino, owned a factory in Marble Hill.

The Larma Wisely trust has been the subject of some controversy. A group of residents have signed a petition asking the state to audit city finances. They have accused city officials of using the trust for other projects not allowed by the stipulations of the trust.

But a check of city audit reports in March by the Southeast Missourian revealed that little of the money in the trust had been spent since it was donated in 1988 and 1989.

About $50,000 of the money was spent to pay for pool materials used in the beginning phases of construction.

But the petition garnered enough signatures to warrant a check of city financial records by State Auditor Margaret Kelly's office. Just more than 100 signatures were required. The city will be forced to pay for the audit, which Kelly's office has said will cost between $4,000 and $12,000.

Jackson said the city has been notified that the audit will begin in three to six months.

The pool includes a smaller wading pool for young children. City offices will be situated in an L-shape around the pool and bathhouse. The pool will be completed before the rest of the complex, Jackson said.