CPC to meet every other month
<span>CHESTER -- The Chester Pool Committee met in short session on Tuesday and with currently limited options toward accomplishing its goals, voted to change its meetings to every-other month.</span>
<span>"I spoke with the mayor (Tom Page) and asked him about a suggestion that had been brought up about having meetings every-other month, instead of every month," said CPC Co-Chairman Donnie Clark. "That's OK."</span>
<span>The next meeting of the CPC is set for June 23.</span>
<span>Clark also said Page had a meeting earlier in the day with Perryville Mayor Ken Baer about the possibility of a discount for Chester citizens to use the Perry Park Center swimming pool.</span>
<span>"(Page) is trying to work out a deal where all citizens of the city, who want to go swimming in Perryville, will get a discount," Clark said. "What it is, I don't know, they're still negotiating."</span>
<span>In a phone interview with the Herald Tribune on Thursday, Page confirmed the discussions.</span>
<span>"(Alderwoman) Nancy Crossland and I had lunch with the mayor from Perryville and a city administrator," he said. "Part of our discussion was to get a residential rate for any Chester resident to use the Perry Park Center."</span>
<span>Page said negotiations are continuing and could not give an estimate on when a decision could be reached.</span>
<span>Later in the meeting, CPC member and Chester Stingrays Swim Team representative Farrah Runge gave an update on the swim teams' situation.</span>
<span>Previously, Chester Stingrays President Eleanor Clendenin approached the Sparta City Council about the possibility of using the Sparta Municipal Pool for practice.</span>
<span>"They have established the availability of practice times," Runge said. "We won't be using Sparta to host a meet and a lot of that is due to the fact we're still not definite on the size of the team."</span>
<span>The first day of practice for the 2015 season is June 1.</span>
<span>During the correspondence portion of the meeting, CPC member Pete Spitler informed the committee he had written a letter to State Rep. Jerry Costello II (D-Smithton), which contained a summary of the CPC's discussions over the past four months and asked for advice.</span>
<span>One of the General Assembly committees Costello is assigned to is Tourism and Conventions.</span>
<span>"As of this point, I have yet to receive a response," Spitler said. "I have contacted his office and he has received the letter."</span>
<span>From that point, the discussion went to the status of the closed Chester Municipal Pool. Spitler reported that Page told him that the mayor and Harold Sheffer of J.T. Blankinship, Inc. (the city's engineering firm) have been attempting to find blueprints of the foundation of the pool.</span>
<span>"As we all know, the pool was not built to the original 1938 blueprints," Spitler said. "In discussions with the mayor, he shared a concern on what the condition of the foundation is.</span>
<span>"Obviously, if you lose 17 million gallons of water in four weeks, the water's got to go somewhere."</span>
<span>Spitler said Page told him that Sheffer had said core drilling may be necessary to determine the structural stability of the pool's foundation and it would be an expensive process.</span>
<span>Lastly, Runge inquired about budget figures that show what funds the City of Chester had put into the pool.</span>
<span>"What were the maintenance costs, labor costs, anything like that?" Runge asked. "Especially with maintenance costs. If we were putting a couple hundred thousand in maintenance out there, if you could take away some of that cost and put it toward the cost of a new facility, I think those things could be important."</span>
<span>In documents released by City Clerk Nancy Eggemeyer on Thursday, the pool lost $57,632.45 in fiscal year 2014, the last full year it was open. In the four weeks it was open in 2014, the pool lost $35,524.87.</span>
<span>Since fiscal year 2010, the pool has lost a combined $304,723.67.</span>
<span>Under expenses, Risk Management Contribution - which Carter said assesses risk of injury - went from $562.16 in fiscal year 2010 to $10,067.95 in fiscal year 2013.</span>
<span>That category declined to $5,519.43 in fiscal year 2014, but was back up to $7,575.18 last summer.</span>