Do You Want a Town Pool in Southeast?

Elected leaders in Southeast recently discussed the possibility of a town pool, and they're hoping to hear from more residents as to whether or not they support the idea.

Town board member Bob Cullen introduced the subject at Thursday's meeting [video online here]. He and councilwoman Liz Hudak said they had heard from several residents at Community Day who expressed an interest in a town pool.

Cullen noted that a proposal for an indoor pool and a recreation center some years ago failed with voters in Southeast. At the time he served on an advisory board for the project.

"So now maybe this is the time to see if there's enough community support to support an outdoor swimming pool, just an outdoor pool, instead of a rec center too," he said. "It would obviously be a lot cheaper.

"We'd have to put it up to the voters to decide if they'd want to spend the money," Cullen continued. "We'd have to get some proposals to see what a pool would cost."

It's too late for the item to appear on the ballot this November, Town Attorney Will Stephens told the board. But that doesn't mean a referendum would have to wait until the next election.

"If it's something that has a lot of momentum behind it, you could certainly have a bond referendum at a time that's not the general election," he said.

The idea is "very preliminary," Cullen added. The first step, he said, is to establish a recreation advisory committee.

"It would be awfully good if we had more people who would weigh in with us from the community, to say whether or not that is something that they would like to see," Hudak said. 

Research into construction, maintenance and upkeep costs will be compiled over the next four or five months, according to Supervisor Tony Hay.

"I don't believe there's one government entity in Putnam County that has a pool," he said, acknowledging the "huge liability" a pool presents in terms of insurance. "We have six towns, three villages, I don't know of any off the top of my head."

The topic will be on future town board agendas. Officials encourage anyone interested in serving on the advisory committee to submit a letter of interest to the town board (townboard@southeast-ny.gov).

Are you in favor of a town pool in Southeast? Share your opinion here.