Mistakes delay aquatics center levy

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

It was a combination of inexperience and “haste makes waste”, but the final result is a delay in voting on a proposal for a city aquatic center.

First-term City Law Director John Hatcher shouldered the blame for the ballot language errors that resulted in the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office’s rejection Thursday of a 1.2-mill, 25-year tax issue for construction of a multi-million dollar aquatic center.

“In the, I’ll kind of term it ‘pool fever’ we had to get this around, we moved quickly and, in the moving quickly, there were mistakes made in the drafting (of the ballot issue),” Hatcher said. “Those fall firmly at my feet.”

The law director said some of the mistakes could have been remedied quickly, although others were more problematic for the issue.

The primary problem was the failure to remove ballot language indicating the issue was for “current expenses,” making it an operating levy, not a bond issue. In contrast to a bond issue, which is what the aquatic center tax levy essentially is, operating issues are limited to a maximum term of five years, while the city tax issue needed to be for 25 years.

“That should have been removed, but never was,” Hatcher admitted.

Also, the city failed to adopt a certificate of verification and provide that to County Auditor Nancy Dixon’s office, as is required by law. A lesser problem was the fact that the secretary of state’s office felt the ballot language should have split the idea of issuing bonds from the action of passing a tax to pay for those bonds.

“I find that kind of a minor procedural change,” Hatcher said, noting that change could have been made fairly easily, if it was the only problem.

“Those mistakes will not be repeated and, believe me, this is a learning experience for me,” Hatcher noted, adding that he would be consulting with other communities that have recently passed swimming pool/aquatic center issues to verify the exact ballot language needed.

Meanwhile, the city plans to move forward to place the levy back on the ballot in November.

“I feel very confident that we have a good plan to move forward and have it ready for the ballot in November,” Hatcher said, but also apologized to supporters of the proposal for the delay. “Everyone who is disappointed and inconvenienced by what has occurred here, they have my sincerest apologies. There were a lot of people who want this, myself included, and they have a right to be disappointed.”

Mayor Don Farmer said that, while the delay is not something city officials wanted, it may have some positives down the road, if the levy is approved in November.

Noting that, if the issue was approved in May, the mayor said it would have been September by the time bidding was completed and construction was ready to begin. That means that construction would likely not have been completed until July 2014, cutting the center’s first season in half, while also decreasing revenues.

If voters approve the issue in November, Mayor Farmer explained, bidding could be done over the winter, allowing construction to begin in the spring of 2014.

“When approved in November, we can do all of our headwork in the winter months and be all ready when the weather breaks,” he said.

Completion of the center at the end of 2014 would then allow the center to open around Memorial Day 2015 for a full season.

“Sometimes the negative breeds a positive,” the mayor noted.

The most important thing, though, is that voters approve the levy, which would cost owners of a $50,000 house $18.50 per year, and those with homes costing $100,000 approximately $37 annually.