WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — Hartford Selectboard members are considering whether to bring an already-approved $3.3 million pool proposal back to voters at the next Town Meeting because of concerns over the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We are facing much different circumstances than we were in March,” Selectboard member Alicia Barrow said Tuesday, referring to the 2020 Town Meeting vote where residents approved the pool proposal in a 1,715-1,387 vote. “There are many things I believe our voting base would change had they had all the information.”

She was one of several Selectboard members who questioned the future of the proposal in an hourlong discussion during a Selectboard meeting held via videoconference on Tuesday.

Parks and Recreation Director Scott Hausler was asking the board to allow the town to enter into a $3.2 million contract with Middlebury-based Bread Loaf Construction, which had submitted the best bid, but Selectboard members made no decision on whether to postpone the project or move forward as planned during the meeting.

The pool, which would feature four lap lanes, water features for children, and a sloped entrance that’s accessible for people with physical handicaps, is meant to replace the 52-year-old Sherman Manning Pools.

The pool closed in 2018 after Selectboard members learned that necessary repairs to the aging structure would cost around $320,000.

The pool bond that voters approved in March would raise money from taxpayers over 20 years to fund the construction of the pool. Several board members asked whether the project should be postponed, or whether they should seek additional approval from the public, due to the pandemic and the financial burden it places on many families.

“I’m in favor of going back to voters and saying, ‘Considering the current situation, do you want to go forward with this?’ ” said Selectboard member Kim Souza, asking whether the construction company could postpone the work until the board is able to bring the issue up for another vote.

But Emma Behrens warned her colleagues on the Selectboard about being “casual” regarding the timeline of the project.

“I know the ballot didn’t say ‘now or never,’ but I do think that there was some assumption that when you vote on something, it’s not ‘take on this debt in 10 years,’ ” she said.

Others, like Selectboard member Alan Johnson, took issue with the idea of the pool proposal altogether. Johnson said the town should address more important issues like finding housing for homeless people, climate change and the pandemic.

“There are so many things that we should spend $3 million on that are of critical necessity rather than spending it on one more way for people to get wet,” he said, adding that residents and the town will likely feel the economic fallout from the pandemic in a year or two.

“The reality is that the economy is incredibly fragile right now,” Johnson said. Even if a vaccine is discovered and made available in six months, that “doesn’t eliminate the backlog of economic disruption we are facing,” he said.

Vice Chair Simon Dennis reminded board members that the 20-year period for the bond does not include how much Hartford will have to pay to maintain and run the pool, which could cost $80,000 a year.

Other Selectboard members, including Behrens and Joe Major, said they agreed with Johnson, but that the board should follow the vote of the public.

“Could we use that (money) for other things? Certainly. But at the end of the day, the people have spoken,” Major said.

Selectboard Chair Dan Fraser said the board already raised the idea of postponing the proposal following the COVID-19 outbreak in March, and in the months that followed, he said he hasn’t heard any opposition to the pool from residents.

“I don’t feel like there has been an uproar from the public,” he said.

At the end of the discussion, board members voted unanimously to have Hausler ask the construction company how long it could postpone the project, and to have the town manager look into any legal hurdles they could face if they brought the issue up for another vote.

Anna Merriman can be reached at amerriman@vnews.com or 603-727-3216.