Hartford — Town officials are looking for volunteers to answer an emotionally charged question that could cost the town hundreds of thousands of dollars — or a beloved community resource.

“Should we be in the pool business?” Selectwoman Rebecca White asked during a phone interview on Thursday afternoon.

When White and her fellow Selectboard members learned that the Sherman Manning Pools, located on the Hartford High School campus, would need $320,000 to repair a leaky gutter and pool shell in order to stay open, they opted instead in January to close the facility for the summer. They currently are wrestling with a long-term decision about whether the pool’s closing should be permanent.

That decision — the ultimate fate of the pool — will be made based largely on information being gathered by the newly formed Hartford Pool Committee, which the Selectboard created during a meeting last month.

When she first was elected to the board in 2015, White said , an independent review of the municipal budget showed that the pool was costing more per user than other fee-supported recreational facilities in the town. She lobbied to have a conversation about closing it at that time, but found little support from other Selectboard members, and interest in the issue died down until late last year.

The decision to close the pool, which sells low-cost day and season passes to Hartford residents, sparked an outcry from pool users, but so far, only four people have applied to fill the committee’s five open slots, according to Town Manager Leo Pullar. Applications are being accepted through the end of the month.

The committee will be working with a broad charge that describes four possible fates for the facility: moving forward with the estimated $320,000 fix for the existing maintenance issues; pairing that repair job with an upgrade that would add more water features; closing and demolishing the pool; and replacing the pool with a new, better-designed pool in the same location.

The committee also is tasked with evaluating other aquatic experience options within the town, and whether replacing the Sherman Manning Pools with another pool at a different location might make sense.

Though White is predisposed to closing the pool, she said she won’t rule anything out until the committee completes its report.

Kim Souza, who was elected to the Selectboard earlier this month, said it is possible she could end up serving on the committee as a liaison. Either way, she said, her intense interest in the town’s infrastructure and public facilities haven’t put her firmly in any particular camp.

“I am genuinely interested in keeping public spaces within the town. That’s important to me,” she said. “Specifically for the pool, I don’t know whether adding more money to the current situation is justified. I’m eager to learn.”

In addition to the main pool located next to the high school, the outdoor facility features a shallow wading pool for children.

It’s expected the committee will evaluate the options with the help of a professional audit of the facility and will make a final report, with recommendations, to the Selectboard by the end of August.

One pool-related question the committee is not specifically tasked with is figuring out whether there was any connection between the pool’s leaks and construction that was done on a field house in the same location in 2014.

Though Pullar has said such a connection is unlikely, he and Scott Hausler, director of the town’s Parks and Recreation Department, are doing due diligence by interviewing pool experts and looking at old water bills to learn more. He said he expects the committee will review their findings as part of its work.

Hausler said that at first glance, the building’s 2014 water bill, generated by the town’s public works department, showed nearly 1.5 million gallons of water had been used there, significantly more than a rough early estimate of 320,000 gallons for normal use.

But the data currently is far from reliable, Pullar said, and can’t be safely compared to the usage rates of other years due to a variety of reasons. Billing was only generated once every two years, the accounting system has changed, the meter reading has switched to electronic from manual, and readings were done haphazardly, making it difficult to compare one time period with another.

“The data was not dependable. It did not survive the rigors of further analysis and questioning,” Pullar said on Thursday, explaining why he decided to remove an item that would have given a presentation on the numbers to the Selectboard from its March 13 meeting agenda. “I don’t like to present bad or inaccurate data to the Selectboard or the public. We are working with the water department to understand the usage numbers over time.”

In addition to five members of the public, the Hartford Pool Committee will include a representative from the Parks & Recreation Commission and the Field and Facility Use Committee. Hausler will be a nonvoting member.

A full description of the committee’s charge is available on the Hartford town website.

Matt Hongoltz-Hetling can be reached at mhonghet@vnews.com or 603-727-3211.