During Port Townsend’s State of the City event earlier this month, city manager John Mauro and mayor David Faber urged citizens to explore EngagePT (cityofpt.us/engagept), the city of Port Townsend’s “Engage Today For a Better Tomorrow” website. I’ve begun to do just that. Without understanding the city’s challenges, priorities, and initiatives, how can anyone speak responsibly to hot-button local issues, let alone determine fact from “fiction,” aka “alternative facts,” misinformation, half-truths, and outright lies?

EngagePT links to multiple videos on the city’s YouTube channel (@CityofPortTownsend), including one of the State of the City presentations. Viewers can narrow their choices to recruitment, webinars and instructional videos, or the financial sustainability initiative. Background music is sometimes intrusive—Port Townsend does not move to a steady quasi-industrial/techno beat—but content eschews conspicuous dumbing down while presenting challenges and opportunities with candor.

Those willing to roll up their sleeves and delve deeper can choose between “Strategic Focus Areas”—housing, infrastructure, and more—or “Hot Topics.” The latter include the city’s Financial Sustainability Initiative, Evans Vista Housing Development, Envision Golf Course and Mountain View Commons, the “Healthier Together” sink-or-swim pool initiative, General Sewer Plan, or that other favorite punching bag, the “nothing’s right” roundabout. You’ll need considerable time to review the city council’s kick-off presentation on Evans Vista and all relevant documents, including meeting notes, open house, and documents records. More are coming.

At the State of the City meeting, I asked how city officials and staff could best address misinformation. Mindful of recent claims that the city intentionally suppressed “estimates to completely refurbish and modernize the pool for $4-$5 million,” I sought the truth by contacting Mauro and city of PT director of communications and marketing Shelly Leavens. I also spoke with planning and development director Emma Bolin.

“The [pool] reports were not suppressed – [there] were elements that needed to be tied together for a holistic picture of a refurbishment/modernization and we have the responsibility to provide clear and accurate information, which we take very seriously,”

Mauro replied by email. “Unfortunately, adding fervor and intrigue to intentionally incorrect statements does not make them true. We only received the full report and the comparative analysis in December.  Those reports can be found here: https://cityofpt.us/engagept/page/healthier-together.”

To summarize a few of the city’s arguments, the pool, constructed in 1963, was never built to last this long. To paraphrase Faber, it is currently held together by duct tape. The true cost to repair the existing pool, contained in the full report, is more like $11 million. Even if the existing pool were repaired, it is not competitive length and cannot meet the needs of high school swimmers and other serious athletes.

The proposed new facility, for which three locations other than Mountain View Commons are being evaluated, would include a six-lane, 25-yard lap pool maintained at a cool temperature appropriate for serious swimmers. A second, warmer pool would serve kids, families, and those who need a warmer swimming environment. My neighbors are among many Jefferson County families who drive their kids to Port Angeles on weekends to access a kid-friendly pool with water slide and other amenities. See pages 6 and 15 of the Final Report for details on the “Base Plan” and “Full Build-Out” options.

If I read correctly, the “Full Build-out" includes recreational facilities that would compete with existing gymnasiums, including the Port Townsend Athletic Club and Evergreen Fitness. Perish the thought. As much as a new, improved pool is essential to a growing, vital community, I’m equally opposed to adding a Healthier Together tax to ever-increasing water, sewer, electrical, internet, and property taxes. Let’s see what the county’s Healthier Together Task Force, which will meet between April and June, comes up with after members are chosen. See the classified listing in this issue. Applications are due March 29.

A local journalist recently wrote on social media that they couldn’t accept that while interest rates are too high to build he Evans Vista housing project — they thought it had been put on pause — the city intended to absolutely move forward with the pool. When I asked Mauro about this false equivalency (the funding sources are different), he responded, “The community may (or may not) be asked to support a bond for the pool, while there is not direct local public funding of Evans Vista construction.”

According to Bolin, the entire Evans Project cannot be built at once “due to current interest rates and city objectives for affordability levels. The project will be ready for builders and developers to proceed when the market turns around. The city is on track to install a sewer lift station up the hill in 2025. We are working diligently to line up how and who will develop Evans Vista once the sewer is in.”

Want to learn more? Head to the EngagePT website.

Jason Victor Serinus is a critic of culture, music, and audio. The oldest member of the WA State LGBTQ Commission, he’s also a professional whistler. Column tips: jvsaisi24@gmail.com.