Methow Valley voters have an issue on the November ballot that has become quite the thorny issue up there: how to fund a new swimming pool. Proposition 1 on the ballot for valley residents calls for formation of a metropolitan park district to be known as the Methow Aquatics District.
Some background, from our friends at the Methow Valley News:
About 20 years ago, a community organization, Friends of the Pool, was formed to raise money to pay for repairs and operations of the Wagner Memorial Pool, operated by the Town of Twisp. After consultants concluded several years ago that the 56-year-old Wagner pool had deteriorated beyond repair, Friends of the Pool began to explore building a new pool.
Proponents conducted a successful petition drive this year to place the proposition to create an aquatics district on the November ballot.
People on both sides of the Proposition 1 debate appear to agree on one thing — the Methow Valley needs some kind of new swimming pool. Even the most vocal opponents of Proposition 1 have praised Friends of the Pool volunteers for their years of fundraising to maintain and repair the aging Wagner Memorial Pool, and for their efforts to find a way to build a replacement.
Differences of opinion have focused on the mechanism selected to fund a new pool, what a vote for the district would mean, how the district would operate, and the potential cost of a new aquatics facility and associated taxes.
There's much more on this including statements from both sides of the issue at methowvalleynews-dot-com.