Pool Maintenance Measure on Fillmore Ballot

The tiles of the community pool at Fillmore High School were cracked. The ladders were rickety, and the plaster at the bottom of the 35-year-old basin was corroded.

So last year, citing a number of health and safety issues, Ventura County environmental health officials ordered the pool closed. It has been shut ever since.

The city of Fillmore wants to give residents a chance to get back in the swim. It is asking local voters to approve Measure Q--a parcel tax that would finance the maintenance of a new swimming pool next to the high school, on 1st Street between A Street and Central Avenue. Money to build the pool would come out of the city’s redevelopment budget.

The pool “was not maintained to the level that it should have been maintained,” said Cindy Blatt, the high school’s swim coach. “That’s probably why we have the problems.”

If approved on the March 5 ballot, the measure would assess local property owners up to $15 annually, effective fiscal 2002-2003. The owners of apartment complexes and other multifamily buildings would be charged up to $15 annually for each housing unit.

The tax would be assessed for a period of time determined by the City Council, and generate an estimated $57,000 annually.

City officials say the cost is worth it, especially in the summer when temperatures often exceed 100 degrees.

“Not having a community pool has probably taken a toll on the kids as well as the families who have to live with those kids,” Deputy City Manager Tom Ristau said.

The city is negotiating with Fillmore Unified School District to buy a 1.5-acre site, which includes the closed pool and four tennis courts, for $305,000. If voters approve the measure, the city would tear out the pool and build a new 6,225-square-foot pool in its place.

The $2-million construction cost would include a 2,000-square-foot building for lockers, showers, restrooms and equipment, such as filtration devices and starting blocks for swim competitions.

Work would begin this summer and be finished by summer 2003.

If the measure fails, the pool will remain closed.

“We haven’t been in a position to fund the replacement and ongoing maintenance of the pool for the entire community,” said Fillmore Unified School District Supt. Mario Contini.

Since the pool was closed, the Fillmore High swim team has used the pool at Santa Paula High School.

Under an agreement with the city, the school district allowed the Parks and Recreation Department to use the pool for swim lessons and other programs. If voters pass the tax measure, the city would own the pool but the district probably would continue to use it for physical education classes.