Changes are on the horizon for Boulder City residents. While change and the unknown future can sometimes be scary, in this case, it is not.
Tuesday’s election appears to have put Mathew Fox in the vacant seat on City Council and passed two questions to help build a new municipal pool. Although results remain unofficial until June 24 to allow for any additional mail-in ballots to be counted it is unlikely they will be any different.
Congratulations are in order for Fox, who will join Sherri Jorgensen on the council.
They will be sworn into office July 13 and will bring a fresh perspective to the dais. Both were fully committed to getting elected and sharing their vision for a better community while serving.
Fox brings with him youth and a unique history. While he has spent a great deal of time in the community, he has only been a permanent resident for about 2½ years.
This offers him the ability to see things as both a longtime resident and a newcomer.
He and Cokie Booth campaigned for the position well and either would have been a good choice and given their all to better the city.
I also have no doubt that Booth, who has been volunteering her time on behalf of the community for years, will continue to do so. She even said she would in a statement conceding her defeat.
And let’s give a resounding hurrah to the approval of the ballot questions that move plans to build a new pool forward. Both questions provide funding options to raise the millions needed that will not raise taxes.
Question 1 asked to spend no more than $7 million from the capital improvement fund to build a new pool as money became available from the sale and lease of city land, and Question 2 sought permission to use 90 percent of the proceeds from the sale of Tract 350 near Boulder Creek Golf Club to help fund the swimming pool project.
They were a welcome alternative to the 2019 proposal that sought as much as $40 million in general obligation bonds for a new aquatic facility that would have resulted in a property tax for 30 years.
These funds, when they become available, will be added to the $1.3 million donation the city received in 2019.
Hopefully that is sooner rather than later.
Having been built in 1980, the municipal pool is showing its age.
In early 2019, Parks and Recreation Director Roger Hall said some of the problems at the pool include locker room doors and door frames that are rusted beyond repair; cracked pool deck and bottom; air support structure that is ripped on the inside; rusted and corroded mechanical and electrical components for the pool’s systems; pool boiler that is rusted through and will need to be replaced in the next year or two.
Surely, things could not have gotten better in the past two years.
Replacing it is a better option than spending millions on renovations, repairs and bringing it up to current code.
Additionally, the new pool, once built, should be able to accommodate swim meets, a great plus for the city’s multiple award-winning swimmers and championship teams.
Residents should give themselves a collective pat on the back for the willingness to make changes and accept them wholeheartedly.
Let us also hope that the new City Council members can embrace their new roles with as much enthusiasm as they showed during their campaigns and work together for a brighter future.
Hali Bernstein Saylor is editor of the Boulder City Review. She can be reached at hsaylor@bouldercityreview.com or at 702-586-9523. Follow @HalisComment on Twitter.