Patty Miller
The Edmond Sun
EDMOND —
The Edmond City Council and the Edmond Board of Education on Monday night tabled approval of an interlocal agreement between the city of Edmond and Edmond Public Schools.
The agreement was on the development of a competition pool in conjunction with a recreation center at Mitch Park.
The council approved an agreement with the YMCA of Greater Oklahoma City for the construction, lease and operating agreement for the center.
The City of Edmond and the YMCA will both contribute $6 million each for the construction of the facility. City money to pay for the facility comes from the 2000 sales tax.
The city and the school district have considered development of a competition pool which can be used by Edmond Public Schools and other members of the community interested in competitive swimming programs and other health and wellness activities.
It was standing room only as a crowd of more than 90 people filled the Administrative Center and the foyer Monday night at the Special Meeting of the Board of Education. Most were in favor of the pool and recreation center.
In addressing the board, Laura Callahan, a member of Edmond’s Extreme Aquatic Team said, “This pool will ensure Edmond can meet the already established demand for water while enabling the city to undertake new initiatives to benefit our citizens and community as a whole.”
Edmond’s Extreme Aquatic Team offers year-round swimming programs for children age 5 through adult, and according to Callahan the team has grown 171 percent over the past three years with membership now at 130.
“Right now Edmond has 375 to 400 school-age swimmers from a variety of public and private teams vying daily for practice time between 3:30 p.m. and 8 p.m.,” Callahan said. “Some of those swimmers age 13 to 18 also vie for practice time before school.”
In a motion to table the decision made by board member George Cohlmia and seconded by Jamie Underwood, Cohlmia said although he didn’t speak for the board, a lot of board members are in favor of figuring out a way to partner with the city.
“We were presented a document just today that we looked at and think it needs to be changed just a little bit,” Cohlmia said. “In that light I would like to ask Stephanie Mather, our attorney, to work with the city’s attorney to button up those issues and present another document later this week.”
The motion passed 5-0.
“We felt like there were too many unanswered questions to make a decision this evening,” Underwood said. “We needed more time to work out the details with the city.”
Saying a lot of her concerns were addressed in the executive session, board member Kathleen Duncan said, “I think we will be able to make a more informed decision with the additional information we have requested.”
Although board president Charles Woodham said none of the issues were a show-stopper, he added, “There were areas of finance and management that we needed clarification for, and we thought it would be prudent to take a few days before we made our decision.”
The key point of the agreement would be the construction of an eight-lane, 50-meter pool with up to 800 spectator seats.
This addition to the recreation center will provide the shared spaces that include lobby, public restrooms, locker room facilities and mechanic equipment rooms for heating/ventilation/air condition and pool mechanical equipment, said Steve Commons, assistant city manager.
According to the agreement, the district will contribute the construction funding for this portion of the building, at this time estimated at $6 million, said Associate Superintendent of District Operations Bret Towne.
“A 50-meter pool will cost more than that,” Towne said.
The district will provide $50,000 annually to be applied for the operating expense of the building for a period of five years. After that time the cost will be renegotiated.
The interlocal agreement needs to be approved by both governing bodies and then submitted to the Attorney General’s Office for approval, Commons said.
“All approvals need to be secured prior to the public schools proceeding with setting the bond election for their contribution to the projects,” Commons said.
A Special Meeting will be Friday morning at 8 a.m. in the Administrative Center to hear the findings of the school board’s attorney and to make a decision on the interlocal agreement between the city and the school district.
SUN REPORTER James Coburn contributed to this report.
pmiller@edmondsun.com | 341-2121, ext. 171
