The Lassen County Board of Supervisors will be discussing a proposal that could lead to a community swimming pool for Susanville at their regular meeting this morning. The board will talk over a plan authored by City Council Member Brian Wilson and Lassen County District 2 Supervisor Jim Chapman which would create a ‘Pool Commission’ with the decision-making ability to fund, construct, maintain and operate a community swimming pool.
Discussion of the pool item is scheduled on the agenda for 11:00a.m. following a report from the budget committee. Critics of the plan debate the merit of sharing the tax resources.
“They are legitmately concerned about stockpiling excess revenues to cover any future costs they might have . . . who wouldn’t, and it is a prudent thing to do,” says Chapman, “But, at the same time, how much do we sacrifice the present needs to guarantee future security?”
That will be part of the fundamental debate the board has to work through, along with the City Council who will discuss the pool initiiative at their Wednesday evening meeting.
Wilson and Chapman are encouraging community participation at this week’s meetings.
Chapman said that if the people don’t show up and they defer to the bureaucracy, who will spend it for the things that matter to them.
“If the people show up and demand that some of it is spent on things that matter to people, then it will be a hard thing to ignore.”
The board can vote this morning to place a line item in the proposed budget to allocate the dollars needed to fund the county’s 50% share for the proposed Joint Powers Authority that would be formed with the city to build a pool. Once it is added to the budget then the whole budget will be examined at budget hearings scheduled for Tuesday, September 3rd through Friday, September 6th.
“After the budget hearings are held, the board will then be able to adopt a budget. Until the budget is adopted and it includes the line item we are asking for there is no commitment to fund it by the county. That budget vote will most likely take place between September 3rd and September 10th, the next regular meeting after the budget hearings.”
