On Monday, Athens will come one step closer to the construction of a new pool.
City officials have been planning a new pool since early 2015. Now, more than two years later, Athens City Council will receive a presentation about the design of the pool from MSA Consultants, the firm in charge of designing and building the pool. In September, MSA gave council preliminary estimates about the cost and site of the new pool.
City council President Chris Knisely said she expects MSA to present their final pool design at the meeting.
“It’s the next steps in where we are with the planning,” Knisely said. “It’s going to be a powerpoint or handout with new maps and final designs.”
Knisely noted the current pool would remain in use during the 2017 season.
“We’re going to try to get along with our current pool for one more season while we’re starting construction on the new pool,” Knisely said. “Even if we started tomorrow, we wouldn’t be able to get a new pool open for this swim season.”
In their last presentation, MSA said two options were available for the placement of the pool: either where the current pool is, or behind the recreation center.
At that September meeting, Kirk Greenfield an Athens resident and meteorologist for WTAP in Parkersburg, raised concerns about the new site being built in a flood zone.
"It's not a question of if it will flood, it's when it will flood," Greenfield said.
Council members will also talk about renewing a contract with Complus Data Innovations, the company that provides uptown parking enforcement equipment to the city of Athens.
The city entered into a contract with the company in 2005.
At the time, Paul Wiehl, former Athens mayor and city councilman, said the new system would increase efficiency in the city’s parking system.
“This will improve the payment for parking tickets and reduce the number of outstanding tickets,” Wiehl said. “The new system will allow police to refuse renewal for registration if outstanding tickets are present on a person's record.”
The new system was estimated to increase ticket compliance by 11 percent, according to a previous Post article.
