A large group of residents packed the United Citizens Forum on North Hayden on Thursday night, looking for answers on the closing of the Thompson Park pool.
The meeting included a presentation by Michael Kashuba from the City of Amarillo, which detailed issues with the pool at Thompson Park. Kashuba, the City’s Parks and Recreation director, said the City decided to close the pool due to health concerns. He said “ballpark estimates” have also been collected on creating a new pool, which would cost around $3 million, but no funding is available at the moment to complete such a project.
Meeting attendees quickly addressed their comments to members of the City Council, as Councilwoman Freda Powell and Councilmen Howard Smith and Eddy Sauer were in attendance. Powell and Smith declined to answer questions, and Sauer left the meeting before being offered the chance to speak.
City manager Jared Miller also spoke, saying City staff members hope to eventually look at needs for all the parks in Amarillo. Miller also rebuked sentiments that North Amarillo is being neglected in the parks projects, saying the neighborhood is the primary recipient of parks projects.
Several citizens spoke, encouraging attendees to vote for new Councilmembers in May. A number of prospective candidates were also in attendance at the meeting, although none officially announced candidacies.
At this time, it appears there are no plans to either repair or replace the pool.
