Le Roy pool deal wasn't a done deal after all

I attended the board meeting last night and was very disappointed in the attempt by the mayor and several board members to bring up this ridiculous idea that private citizens should take over ownership of the pool. I believe it was their way of "killing" the idea of a group of very generous people who were willing to give of their time and money to get the pool reopened.
We are so fortunate to live in LeRoy where we have such generous people as the Gomberome's, Mike Welch, Tom Spardaro, Tom McGinnis, Bob Bennett, Jackie Whiting, and others who I apologize for not knowing their names that are willing to give so much of their time, money, and resources to do this wonderful thing for the future of our community. There are many in the community less well known who would give of their time and money to help in this cause and I hope that the board will continue to work with this group.

I agree with Cindy. I also attended last night's meeting, and left with a sense that this project will not happen. I think it is ludicrous for the mayor to suggest that a brand new, private entity could even embark upon such a venture.
Q: How would such a group be able to obtain the necessary liability insurance at a reasonable cost?
A: They wouldn't, and the mayor knows it.
Q: How would such a group fund any major repairs in the future, given past history?
A: They couldn't, as this pool is NOT a positive revenue maker. It's going to cost whoever runs it more money than it will take in the way of fees, concessions, etc.
Q: Why can't a community come together and work on a project, for the good of the citizens, without the fear of retaliation from unions?
A: Because NYS is a twisted quagmire of government incompetence that has morphed into it's own worst enemy.

I applaud Mike for his efforts, as well as the other citizens who attended and spoke last night. I made a suggestion that the pool be transferred to the town of Leroy rec department. Hopefully that option will be considered. I highly doubt it, though.

And if I appear to sound overly critical of the board, I apologize to each and every one of them. I am grateful for the thankless job they do, and I appreciate the opportunity to engage in constructive conversation. I am, however, very frustrated by the clusterphuck this whole thing has become. No wonder NY is viewed as a business unfriendly state!

Why not set it up like they do in Batavia with the ice arena.....

I am not buying the "prevailing wage" theory that the mayor mentioned. I believe Sheila Furr brought up the playground that was built by all volunteers on school property which was a good point. Also, for many years of the Oatka Festival the Village DPW crew worked overtime and set up for the parade and removed the garbage cans at the festival site as they filled. The village decided to use volunteers for this several years ago to save money and to my knowlege this is how it is still done and the union couldn't stop them from using volunteers.

@Mark, because it doesn't make money and doesn't really have the potential to do so.

It's sad to watch local governments give up on things that make a community a better place to live. Somewhere along the line, lowering taxes became the only thing that's important, but taxes are still going up while taxpayers are seeing less of a return.

LeRoy is a nice place and the pool is a big part of it. If I lived there, I'd feel good knowing that my daughter would have a safe, supervised place to go in the summertime. It looks like parents in LeRoy aren't going to have that peace of mind much longer and that's too bad.

I think that we should not view this as it is not going to happen. I think that we need to stand firm. This can be done. Again as someone reminded us -they bought their home here because we had a pool. It was a selling feature for our Village and Town. Like I have stated before instead of focusing on the loss of industry rebuild our community through opening our pool and other things. Make it more then people will want to bring things back. I refuse to let the pessimists and negativity ruin what could be. There are many more who believe that too. Also when it comes time for our elections and voting on who we want on our boards- We should really rethink after last nights meeting. Our board was offended based on information of decisions they made and proof of how they made their decisions. I would like to commend Jennifer Keys for standing up for what is right and making a point that a vote never should have taken place on something that does not even exist. Also requested a vote to make sure they do follow through with a committee. THANK YOU JENNIFER FOR BEING A OFFICIAL ELECTED MEMBER WE CAN BE PROUD OF. i THINK IT IS TIME WE RETHINK WHO REPRESENTS US. OUR MAYOR PRESENTED AND HAD VOTED ON A PROPOSAL FOR A GROUP THAT DOES NOT EVEN EXIST!

Jennifer Keys is a great representative. I wish we could borrow her for Batavia.

She is ours, Thank God. Great things will come to our community here in Le Roy through fresh ideas, new approaches, and more representation from people like Jennifer Keys. She was not afraid to stand alone for what is right last night. I am proud to say she is my friend. This pool symbolizes more than just a pool to our community. If we can get it back up and running as we always had in the past think of what else we can do to jump start a falling economic base here. This is what we have that they other communities do not. What we need to ask ourselves is what do we have and are willing to bring to the table to get people and industry here? This is a major asset.

I agree- Jennifer is a great representative and we should look to others like her for our future village board members. I do have to say that I thought Greg Rogers tried to be objective and to be open to seeing if we could make this work. I hope he will continue to keep an open mind. Also, because I didn't put the name with the face last night, I should have added Lucie Griffis to those that I did mention in my previous post. She has worked very hard giving of her time to get the petetion signed so thank you Lucie.

Jennifer is a good friend. LeRoians are lucky to have her representing them on their board.
If they yelled at you, Jen, that means you were making an impact. WTG.

How about truly making this a convoluted arrangement? Have the village sell the pool to the volunteers for $1. The volunteers repair the pool and site, and then 'donate' it back to the village. The village encumbers it as a 'found property' and re-assume administration of the pool without having to jump through the state's hoops?!

I would like to mention that Porp was very on top of things. He made sure we understood he thought we were close, very close. He also stated at the last meeting that he was glad to hear we were willing to fund raise because that is what is need with the tax cap coming. I neglected a very key player besides Jennifer, but I do feel that the reaction from what Mr. Welch said was taken personally when it should not have been. Porp is a great asset here too. I actually would like to thank people in the community for signing. I have grown up here my whole life. I love this community. We need to build to expand and get back. CM Barons those things were at the meeting in a round about way. The Village wants out of the pool business as I believe was said last night by one. But there are some who want to work on this on our board. It can and will get done with cooperation and communication. This is the beginning not the end.

Teaching children how to swim is the responsibility of government? Seriously? How about maybe a parent or other relative? Just a thought.

As far as a non-governmental entity being unable to run a community pool program, utter nonsense. Ivan and Diana Carson did it for many years in Caledonia, quite well I might. Instead of saying it just isn't possible why doesn't someone give her a call and ask her to advise setting up a similar program in LeRoy.

Every pet project being absolutely crucial is why we're in this financial mess in the first place. Cuts must be made, but only the ones that don't impact "me".

@Kevin, the thing about a bedroom community, which is essentially what LeRoy is, is that there has to be a reason for people to choose to live there and commute to their jobs.

A community pool may not be a big deal to you, but it can be a selling point to families looking to relocate.

Essentially what a community is saying when they support things like a pool is: 'Hey, come check out LeRoy, it's quaint and quiet, but we have stuff.'

Taxes aren't the only thing people consider when choosing a home

The message was not it is the responsibility for the children to learn to swim. It was a public safety issue. Our children are swimming here in our creek and quarry right now. We have a pool that the land was donated, the money was privately raised before, donations of time, money and materials are here now. We have done it quite well here too for years. Why should we let it go?

You are correct, Chris. If we want to get back what we have lost and keep industry and people from moving away- we need to have things here to keep them.

"Welsh said teaching children how to swim is “every bit of a public safety obligation as it is to hire a police officer. That responsibility, he said, should fall to the village and not a community group."

So, did the Daily News reporter misquote him?

Kevin, the quote is the same.

No I apparently was mistaken, but I think there was more to the point he was making. Sorry. There was a lot going on , but that discussion pertained to more than that quote,

In my opinion the point is that parents (who know how to swim) can't teach their children how to swim if they don't have access to facilities to do so. I learned to swim in Canandaigua lake through the recreational program. My husband taught kids to swim in Honeoye Lake through a recreational program. If the pool were open we would have a recreational program that parents could access for their children to learn how to swim. Not everyone has a pool, not everyone has lake property, not everyone is able to drive to a public beach on a lake, not everyone has the funds to use the YMCA.

The voices of those who feel that the pool is a necessity are quite loud. They also belong to tax payers. We will see what comes out of the committee recommendations. It was a good debate and there is more to come. It's important to note that everyone wants to work it out so that it is a minimal cost to tax payers.

Why doesn't the board just let the public vote on it? If a majority of residents feel that the costs associated with the pool are important then the board should do it.

When did governemt stop being for the majority?

I did not attend the meeting but I do understand that the Village of LeRoy isn't in a fiscal condition that it was when the facility was built. Even with some very kind and generous offerings from the local folks who generously offered to fix the situation, the issue is there will continue to be financial burden to the community. Things, over time, need fixing. I'm not so sure the fixes proposed weren't bare bones. They probably were immediate fixes. I commend the Village Board for their approach. There are serious infrastructure issues in LeRoy that have deeper ramifications than providing a seasonal pool to a very small population that actually uses the pool. Those things (like utilities, streets and infrastructure maintenance) must come first and foremost. Lastly, how much more can the citizens absorb at $10/thousand assessment??

Which is why we need to work creatively to make things happen.

Phil is right, put it on the ballot. The village can state the cost of yearly operation and the percentage taxes will have to go up to pay. Clean and simple. Yes or No.

If they vote no, a spray park like we have in Batavia is an alternative.

Ballots also cost money. Almost as much as fixing the pool.

The petition turned in had 357 signatures in support of the pool. It's pretty apparent that people are in support of it and that those who are not, are not based on cost. I'd like to work on how we do it with little cost to tax payers.

Of course, since no one comes up to me to say "no" and I've heard only 3 "no"s over the years from citizens at the board meetings, my perspective may seem one sided.

Jennifer,
There is an election this November anyway. You just get the question added to the ballot.

I've alReady put an inquiry in about it. We'll see if it is that simple.

I'm curious to understand why exploring all options through a committee is not an acceptable idea? Chris is right (above), we need options to attract people to our community, as well as keep people here. For size of house you get more bang for your buck here than, say Pittsford, but there are many more perks for your tax dollar all over Monroe County, for example. If people buy to live in we increase our tax base helping to offset the decline of industry, as an idea.

There is an election in November. I'm sure this topic will be discussed.

Yes Jennifer I agree. How can we attract people here if we keep losing things? Instead of focusing on what we do not have, focus on what we do and keep building. Like I said reopening our pool is just the beginning to what a great community we can be again.

Jennifer,

The board can approve a motion to put a question on the ballot. The additional cost will be a non-factor. Also, 300+ signatures is a great representation, but I've collected signatures for petitions as well, those conversations are usually very brief and extremely one sided. I'm not knocking the work or what it represents, I'm just suggesting put out all of the information and let everyone who is inclined to vote do so.

On a sidebar, I agree that things like this is what makes a community great. One of the things my wife and I are looking for in the next place we move to is things like this. I don't like high taxes, yet if I'm paying them I want to see value. I don't here in Batavia, so I understand where a lot of your residents are coming from.

You are correct. I was the one doing the petition. The petition read they wanted the board to act on the proposal for the donation and that they would be willing to pay in taxes what has already been there along with regular maintenance required. It also read they do not want to neglect our youth in everyday expenses. That we would fund raise and volunteer- whatever they required to get it back open. Many that signed do not even have kids- they are tax payers who realize the importance this has been here. They had many complaints about foulish decisions on investments(compost facility and such) though. Many conversations were about other things they felt needed to be brought up. I had in area businesses and I walked around but only hit a few. I did most alone so. There have been conversations all around this town about in for a few months. I again think this is only the beginning of great things to come.