City rendering of proposed pool.
The Estherville City Council has put plans for a new municipal swimming pool on hold.
Bids for the project came in about $700,000 over budget — and City Council member Roy Gage says the potential economic impact of COVID-19 is unknown.
“You know, we’d like to see in six months we’re driving out of this trough, but we don’t know if this is 1929 or if it’s 2007 or whether it’s going to be a long haul or a short-haul,” Gage says. “Just with the uncertainty, I just don’t want to see the town committed to something we can’t nail down.”
Gage says he’s been supportive of getting a new swimming pool in the community, but it makes sense to table the project.
“The bond market, I’m not a financial wizard, but it’s in a turmoil right now,” Gage said. “We can’t be assured we’re going to get a bond or if we got a bond, what the interest rate would be or what the terms would be. It’s just kind of in flux.”
Estherville leaders have formally rejected bids for the swimming pool project. The design will remain the same when bids are accepted again — they just don’t know when that will be.
(By Ed Funston, KILR, Estherville)