MARTIN COUNTY — Is this the right time to build a $9.7 million swimming pool complex on Willoughby Boulevard?

Martin County commissioners wrestled with the answer on Tuesday after listening to a glowing report from David Weller, a father of a competitive swimmer, on the potential of the complex that would combine a recreational pool area with a competition pool.

They also heard from Jim Sherman, assistant county administrator, who said the county could recoup about 80 percent of the cost of running the pool each year, based on an estimated cost of $756,000 annually, but this figure was questioned as being too optimistic.

Commissioner Edward Ciampi, a champion of the pool that would be built with the ½-cent sales tax money already earmarked for this purpose, said this was the time to move forward with the pool facility because construction firms could come in with competitive bids.

But Commission Chairman Susan L. Valliere stood firm.

“I think this is a wonderful project. I just think the timing is wrong,” said Valliere. “We are looking at pay cuts, we are laying off some of our people, there is 10 percent unemployment and climbing. This pool is luxurious and these are not luxurious times.”

Valliere was the only dissenter when the commission voted to approve the conceptual plan for the aquatic complex, and a design-build proposal. Sherman said that once this proposal was in, it would help solidify the cost of the complex.

However, the The commission also directed Sherman to request that the design-build company reduce its fee up to 25 percent.

In Other Business

The Martin County Commission also:

• Agreed to continue discussion of the Langford Landing master site plan until May 5.

• Heard an update on the current Florida Legislature session, now at its half-way mark, as legislators hammer out a budget that includes a $2.5 billion deficit.

• Celebrated the expansion of the Liberator Medical Supply Company from 35 to 121 employees, through efforts of the Economic Development Council, Workforce Florida, the company and the county staff.

Kit Bradshaw, TCPalm.com

Tags: aquatic complex, budget, commissioners, development, money, pool, taxes

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 1st, 2009 at 10:18 am and is filed under Economy, Martin County, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.