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ROCKFORD, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – It’s been a journey two years in the making and started with a meeting between the Parks District, Economic Development Group and several community members in New Rockford.
Executive Director for New Rockford Area Betterment Corporation Sarah Smith Warren stated that the group began addressing reports of issues with the community pool.
“We were discussing the major issues with the pool and we saw the reports. We needed to do something, but what do we do?” Sarah stated.
The committee decided that it was up to the community to decide that.
The Pool Committee began an aggressive research phase over the next several months, issuing community and county wide survey’s both on line and on paper with questions. The committee hosted several public brainstorming sessions and even distributed survey’s to K-12 students. The community’s desire was clear.
“A majority of the responses were ‘Absolutely, we need a pool’. It’s important for our community and we cannot afford to lose public infrastructure.” Sarah said.
Another thing was clear from the survey’s.
“The majority stated that if we were going to have a facility, it needs to be accessible for everyone in the community.” she stated.
The committee began researching by calling other communities, talking to engineers and inspecting different pools. They were then given a budget of $1.5 million to use on a new pool and finally decided on an ADA accessible pool.
The committee called again on the community to ask for help with funding the pool, asking to pass an initiative of $900,000 of property tax over the next 15 to 20 years to fund the construction. The public passed the initiative last December with over 70% in approval.
“After that, we began doing public awareness events. We hosted three public forums in different places at different times. It was a lot of work trying to inform the public and let them know what was happening. Public awareness that came from the community and that’s why they supported it.” Sarah stated.
When the new year came around, the total cost of the pool was raised to $1.6 million dollars. That’s when the committee called on the community and county residents once again.
“The city gave $100,000 of its general budget and we started fund raising this past February.” she pointed out.
Recently, the demolition of the current pool took place and the cost to do so was donated by the group out of Fargo, cutting $136,000 from the bottom line. Currently, the group is waiting to hear from grants and the Parks District is working on several opportunities to help raise money.
“We just started a crowd source of funding. We’re asking the community to help donate money to make up the extra cost of the pool.The community has been amazing. Lion’s Club, local banks and churches have been committing money. So, this would not be happening without the community supporting it.” Sarah stated.
If all goes according to plan, they will bid the project next January and will break ground as soon as the ground thaws. Weather pending of course.
“If all goes amazingly well with North Dakota weather, we’ll open next summer for sure.”
If you’re interested in the project and want to know more or you would like to help donate to the pool, click here.
