TKC EXCLUSIVE!!! CONTROVERSY OVER MERRIAM POOL AND PUBLIC VOICES DROWNED OUT BY STAFF & COUNCIL!!!

For news junkies and suburban denizens of our blog community we have a COMPREHENSIVE UPDATE on A SUBURBAN POOL CRISIS that will cost local taxpayers millions.

Here's the word . . .

What’s Happening in Merriam City Hall – Special Edition - Swimming Pool

The proposed outdoor swimming pool for the new community center will be less than one-half the actual size of the current pool. Area usable for normal activities like swimming, hand stands and throwing a ball will be reduced by 70% to 80% from the current pool.

Many residents have complained and said they never would have voted for the community center if they knew this is how it would have turned out. As a result the Merriam City Council will hold a special work session to review the proposed outdoor swimming pool design.

Meeting Date/Time: July 16, 2018, Monday, 6:00 PM
Meeting Place: Merriam City Hall, Second Floor Training Session
­Meeting Type: The public is invited to attend but will not be allowed to make public comments

If you are unable to attend this important meeting, I encourage you to use this link to provide your opinion to city council members.

Based on complaints from residents and city council members, the Merriam paid city Staff (hereinafter referred to as "Staff" had design consultants prepare additional information.

For some unexplained reason, the consultant information was on the Merriam website on July 13, but is no longer there. Fortunately I copied the information before it was removed from Merriam's website.

My thought is that the consultant study was going to presented by Staff to the city council members at the special July 16 meeting and was removed from the city website when Staff figured out the many errors and incorrect information that existed in the consultant study.

Staff's argument for the smaller outdoor pool will be that the cost of maintaining a pool over time is much larger than the cost of constructing a pool. It is Staff's desire (not the resident’s wishes) to reduce the size of the outdoor pool. Staff says they wanted to keep down the cost of maintaining the pool. My assumption is that Staff instructed the designers to reduce the size of the outdoor pool without notifying or getting feedback from the city council or the public.


Staff maintains that the city should not size a pool just for the 100 or 200 residents on Merriam's swim team. Actually the reduction in pool size will negatively affect all recreational outdoor swimmers.

The proposed outdoor pool is about 50% of the current pool, but if you consider the usable swimming area, the usable swimming area is closer to 20% to 30% of the current pool. That means removing 70% to 80% of usable area. Usable area is defined as that area where swimmers can paddle around, float, do handstands and throw a ball. Area under diving boards are not available for normal swimming activities. Consultant studies of the number of people that will be able to use the outdoor pool appears to be flawed.

It appears that Staff attempted to have their own wishes implemented using various strategies. Staff handpicked committee members they felt would go along with their wishes. No parent of a swim team member or anyone with aquatics experience was asked to join the design committee until recently when one member, with experience, was added and the design had been essentially completed.

Staff had to have decided months ago that the pool size would be reduced but failed to inform the city council, the design committee, the steering committee, the selection committee and parks and recreation committee. By waiting until the last minute to reveal the negative information, I think Staff thought they could bully the city council into voting approval of their design, against resident wishes, to avoid a construction delay.

Staff is now saying that the deadline for city council approval of a design is August 10, 2018 or the project completion will be delayed until late 2020. Delaying the release of information until the last minute is a typical ploy used by Staff to get city council approval. The same thing happened when the city council was asked to approve an art sculpture without having seen the design before the meeting.

The latest consultant study says that an outdoor pool equivalent to the current one or perhaps a little larger would cost an additional $3.2 million. At the last city council meeting we learned that there is a Tiff fund with $8 million in reserves. Staff earlier proposed that this funding source be used to build a parking garage so there was enough parking for a Johnson County library to be built on land currently owned by the city. Council member Al Frisby asked if that Tiff money could be used to build a larger pool instead of a parking garage. Staff said they did not think so, but would check into it.

We have to wonder why Staff purposely delayed giving the city council the bad news about the reduction in pool size until after the council approved beginning negotiations with Johnson County about building a library adjacent to the community center. The library would limit room available for the community center project and perhaps the outdoor pool size.

Residents Give Public Comments on Swimming Pool (41 minutes)

Council Member Questions and Comments – Part 1 (28 minutes)

Council Member Questions and Comments – Part 2 (10 minutes)

City Presentation on New Community Center Design Status (14 minutes)
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