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Following an across-the-board slashing of budgets by the City of Nome this summer, funding for Nome's swimming pool is being throughly reviewed by city administration.
The pool is one of just two indoor facilities in western Alaska, with the other hundreds of miles away in Bethel. If eliminated, it would leave the hub without a vital resource for swim safety and indoor exercise.
On an overcast summer afternoon four miles from town, the Nome Swimming Pool played host to a rowdy game of “Sharks and Minnows.” Kids ducked and dodged underwater for Norton Sound Health Corporation’s Summercise program that offers activities and healthy snacks for kids.
Over the past month, along with Summercise, the pool has hosted regular lunch laps, masters swim stroke clinics, open swims for families and rentals for kids’ birthday parties and special events.
After some back and forth discussion, the City of Nome included almost $85,000 for the pool in its budget this fiscal year. That covers lifeguard pay, chemicals and system maintenance. But Nome’s new City Manager, Lee Smith, isn’t done talking about the pool.
“I'm really going to take a whole 360 on this. You know, look at necessity, demand, you know, the cost. Can we do it better? Can we do it more efficiently?” he asked in an interview with KNOM.
Smith said the city’s Public Works department maintains the pool’s mechanical systems. For bigger issues, the city contracts a company from Anchorage, which only adds to the expenses. And scheduling them into Nome is tough.
“They're over here maybe once a year, and for what I'm paying, it's not worth it,” Smith said.
The pool is attached to Nome-Beltz Middle High School. As part of a deal with the city, Nome Public Schools pays for the pool’s heat, electricity and cleaning costs.
“It’s difficult for us to tease apart, ‘Okay, how much does it exactly cost to heat the pool?’ Because it's part of one large building," the district's Superintendent, Jamie Burgess said.
The district is in a budget crisis of its own, and is dipping into savings to cover expenses. Burgess said the district recently upgraded the high school’s HVAC system and a new BTU meter should help parse out just how much it costs to heat the pool.
The city wants this number, too.
“I just need facts. So when I get into the budget next year with the council, I'm giving them good information so they can make better decisions,” Smith said.
Funding is just one piece of the pool puzzle. Smith said even if they have funding, the city needs to hire and retain more lifeguards to safely operate the pool.
The pool’s manager, Melissa Ford, said staffing took a hit during COVID and it’s been hard to recover. She regularly holds trainings to get new guards on the deck, but getting people to commit long-term has been challenging.
“You're not going to earn enough to feed a family on the hours that we have, but we're doing something that's so critical for our community, our children, that it's very important job, even if it seems like it’s a very minor job,” Ford said.
Ford explained the pool is used in many ways - beyond what shows up on its weekly schedule.
“We host swim practice, swim lessons, private rentals, life guard and water safety trainings, even things like drone rescue practices are happening at the pool," she explained. "So these are all kind of mission-critical in a community that lives and could possibly be dying on the water.”
Smith plans to hold a public meeting in about six months when early budget talks start for next fiscal year. By then, he hopes to have more data on utility costs and community traffic.
Ultimately, he said, closing the pool will be a community decision.
"The community will dictate whether the pool exists or not. You know, are they willing to pay for it? If they are, they need to know what it costs, and for people who don’t use it, what the costs are,” Smith said.
