Town Meeting Day voters in Rutland will weigh in on a proposed $2.5 million swimming pool. The new facility will replace a 50-meter outdoor pool that has served the city for more than 40 years.
To come up with the new design, city officials spent months gathering input from the community.
Cindi Wight, commissioner of Rutland City’s Recreation Department, says the first priority was creating a great space for swim lessons. “Because we want all the kids in our community to know how to swim," she says, and adds that it's important that the pool be accessible.
Wight says the new facility will include two pools. One for laps, racing and diving and another that will have a slide and a gradually-sloped entry. A new pool house with locker rooms, and a community room, will be built as well.
In recent years, voters in Rutland have turned down several projects to upgrade recreational facilities due to cost. But Wight says the city has had a public pool since 1929 and she’s confident local residents will approve the $2.5 million 20-year bond, which she says will cost the average property owner about $26 a year.
If voters approve it, Wight says they hope to open the new facility in June, 2017.
