La Crosse city council to vote on committee to oversee Memorial Pool’s future

Earlier study said fixing pool would
cost $4 million, replacing would cost $4.5 million

Tonight, a La Crosse city council vote on creating a committee to look at the future of the Memorial Pool.

Jacob Sciammas, with the group that’s trying to save the 80-year-old pool, wonders whether the committee will be able to accomplish anything in time to have a pool-funding solution in place for next summer

“It’s certainly taking a long time,” Sciammas said. “We would have wished things to be moved along more expeditiously.”

Sciammas also questions whether a recent survey on the pool was meant to lead the public to reject funding for fixing or replacing the Memorial facility.  

“It’s hard to imagine how we would have any information that could influence the process,” he said. “And, I wonder about the intention of the timeline and how that influences next year’s ability to have any pool open.”

La Crosse mayor Tim Kabat has publicly expressed skepticism about funding a new pool. A study by an engineering firm found fixing the pool would cost nearly $4 million, while replacing it entirely would cost $4.5 million.

Sciammas says a committee put together now likely won’t have any recommendation in time for inclusion in city budget planning for next year.