WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — Hartford’s pool construction project will move ahead as planned after the Selectboard reversed an earlier decision to bring a $3.3 million bond back for another vote.
The board had voted, 4-3, last month to put the project up for a second vote next March amid concerns over the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The voters going into the pandemic voted on this,” board member Joe Major said during a virtual Selectboard meeting Tuesday night as he voiced his support for moving ahead with the project. “Going into the pandemic, they knew there would be some issues.”
Tuesday night’s vote follows several heated debates over the last month on whether the town should bring the pool proposal back to voters in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, which some board members worried will create financial difficulties for Hartford residents down the line.
But on Tuesday night, members reversed that decision in a 4-1 vote, with only board member Emma Behrens in opposition and with member Alicia Barrows — who backed a revote at the October meeting — abstaining.
Board member Simon Dennis, who also voted in October to send the pool bond back to voters, changed his position Tuesday night and supported moving ahead with the pool. Former Selectboard member Alan Johnson, who had also backed a revote, has since stepped down.
The bond would pay for a new pool to replace the 52-year-old Sherman Manning Pools, which closed in 2018 because it needed repairs. The new pool will feature four lap lanes, water features for children and a sloped entrance that’s accessible for people with physical disabilities.
The cost of the pool would amount to an additional $50 per year for the owner of a $250,000 home, according to the town, and the cost to maintain the structure could be $80,000 a year, Dennis has said.
Tuesday night’s discussion was similar to previous debates over the issue, with Behrens arguing that now is not the time to spend money on nonessential projects and that voters should get a second chance to decide on the bond.
“Right now our financial future is pretty uncertain,” Behrens said at the meeting. “There’s a limited amount of money we can responsibly bond for, and I don’t want us to be in a position where we can’t bond for necessary purchases … because we have too much liability outstanding already.”
She addressed the criticism — raised by other board members and residents in recent weeks — that the board’s decision to bring the bond up for another vote ignores the will of the voters, who had approved the bond in a 1,715-1,387 Town Meeting vote in March.
“It’s the exact opposite. I don’t think the Selectboard should unilaterally be making a decision on the pool given how vastly different the financial situation is now than when it was on the ballot previously,” she said.
But Major countered that the board can’t predict what the town’s financial future will look like as a result of the pandemic, and that a $50 yearly increase in taxes for many homeowners is “acceptable.”
“Risk is going to happen. We don’t have a crystal ball and we cannot see a year or two years when this comes to,” Major said. “We try to forecast the best we can.”
He added that he was concerned about a precedent that could be set by allowing voters to reconsider a measure they’ve already approved.
“You create a very slippery slope when you say, ‘You know what? We don’t quite think you knew what you were talking about so we’re going to put it to you again,’ ” Major said.
Though voters approved a $3.3 million bond to cover the costs of the pool, the bid put forward by Middlebury, Vt.-based Bread Loaf Construction would amount to a little less, at $3.17 million, Parks and Recreation Director Scott Hauser said during the Tuesday meeting.
The board also approved a motion to enter into an agreement with Bread Loaf to oversee the project Tuesday.
In other business, the Selectboard appointed Rachel Edens, a program officer at the Vermont Humanities Council, to fill Johnson’s seat until March Town Meeting.
Anna Merriman can be reached at amerriman@vnews.com or 603-727-3216.