With warning from city staff that next year’s budget cycle could face some service cuts, the Peachtree City Council began to dive into two possibilities June 3: both pool-related.

Mayor Harold Logsdon, saying he brought the issue up on behalf of Councilwoman Cyndi Plunkett who had to leave the meeting early, asked staff June 3 to inform council about the possibility of closing the Clover Reach pool, which is the least-used pool in the city’s system.

On June 5, Leisure Services Director Randy Gaddo told the council that it cost $22,000 a year to operate the pool, with more than 1,100 users last year.

Plunkett said that was too much of a cost for too few users and indicated she expected this to be the last year the pool is open. She suggested that perhaps the city could give the pool back to a new homeowner’s association that might be formed for Clover Reach.

The city was given the pool by the previous homeowner’s association years ago, officials have said.

Gaddo said that if the pool is closed, it will cost the city some money to convert it from a pool into some other use. He previously has said the city ruled out converting it into a spray park because the neighborhood couldn’t handle the traffic.

The pool is located in one of the city’s older subdivisions that has undergone a dramatic change in homeownership over the past few years. Gaddo has said that more young families have moved in and they are taking advantage of the pool.

The pool, which is also the smallest operated by the city, is used to relocate swimming lessons when other pools are closed due to contamination, Gaddo said.

Plunkett said she has 27 photos of the pool during its operating hours when no one was there.

Other discussion at Tuesday night’s budget meeting centered on the cost of the annual installation of the bubble on the Kedron pools, which allow them to be used as indoor facilities over the fall and winter seasons.

Council members previously noted that the pools are often used by high school swim teams but those teams only contributed $1,422 last year toward the cost of erecting the bubble each year. Other swim teams chipped in about $15,000, and the city also got about $11,000 in open swim fees, Gaddo reported.

Should the city decide not to put up the bubble in a given year, it would save $162,000 in costs, Gaddo said.

Council members discussed approaching the school system about the issue but not for the coming budget year as the school board has already tentatively adopted its budget. Gaddo said of the 158 kids participating in the schools’ swim programs, 53 of the students are from Peachtree City.

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