Tennis players and swimmers showed up in large numbers for the public input session on the projects to be funded by the $5 million quality of life revenue bond issue. Mayor James Marshall opened the proceedings by announcing that the planned expenditures included (1) construction of four ball fields at Scott Park, (2) construction of six new tennis courts at the location of the 32nd St. courts, (3) improvements to the municipal pool, (4) a new club house for the golf course, (5) updates at the recreation center, (6) a new roof for the parks & recreation building.
Marshall told the audience that the majority of the projects were chosen in response to input he had received from the public during his time in office. Town Manager Alex Brown confirmed that the selections were based on such input.
Mike Trujillo, who said he has been playing tennis for fifty years, told the councilors that building new tennis courts was long overdue, and increasing the number of playable courts would have an economic impact since they would allow the University, Silver High School and the Grant County Tennis Association to stage tournaments. Trujillo closed by saying that tennis is a lifetime sport and beneficial in the effort to fight obesity.
Patty Reed, president of the Grant County Tennis Association, said that some of the 32nd St. courts were dangerous for play, and praised the town for considering their replacement. She added that the association enrolled about 100 children in their grant-funded under 10 youth tennis program last summer and the added courts would allow them to expand the program. She also said that the increased number of courts would allow the association to host tournaments, which would not be possible under current conditions.
Cindy Neely, the past chairwoman of the Town of Silver City recreation committee, and a swimmer, led off a series of speakers who expressed their concern about the lack of a year-round swimming pool, caused by the closure of the university indoor pool. “Swimming is a lifetime sport and is one of the few forms of exercise that an obese child or adult can do,” she said. She described the lack of a year-round pool as a “real problem” for the swimming community and pointed out that training lifeguards to work at the outdoor pool for the upcoming swimming season will be a problem without a pool to use for the classes. She pointed out that Las Cruces and Alamogordo both have covered outdoor pools with domes and suggested that the town consider installing such a dome at the municipal pool. Retractable domes were available, she said, “so those who enjoy swimming outdoors in warm weather would be able to continue to do so.”
Henry Rhone closed out public input on the pool when he said that, unlike swimmers, tennis and ball players already have useable facilities. “It's good that they'll have more places to play, but in the meantime, there's no place to swim until the town pool opens up for the three-month summer season.”
Nancy Cliff, who had complained about a lack of transparency in the selection of the projects to be funded, also addressed the council.
She told them she had done an inventory of ball fields in the county, and found that there were thirteen. “How,” she asked, “can you justify spending half of the proceeds of the bond issue building more ball fields?
In response, Marshall pointed out that the new ball fields would be multi-purpose and easily rearranged to allow use for soccer. He also said that it was his hope that other activities could be added to the complex so that it would be a “recreation destination” and that it might be feasible to connect the town to Scott Park by a path which would allow children to walk or bicycle to the park. Councilor Mike Morones added that ball fields for Little League practice have always been in short supply.
At the conclusion of public input, Marshall told the council that he supported the list of projects as is. Morones told the audience that he also supported the package as a “starting point” and thought covering the pool was something which should be considered in the near future. “This is not an endgame,” he said, “but just the start of an ongoing process.” “I think it's a good start,” he concluded.
Councilor Cynthia Bettison moved for approval of the expenditures, the motion was seconded by Councilor Jose Ray Jr. and was passed unanimously by the council.