Mayor David Faber told The Leader that he has seen two significant plans to replace the pool fall apart.

As he nears the end of his eighth year on the Council, he’s witnessing his third, and warns that time is running out.

“They slapped a roof in it without any regard for structural integrity and it’s in really bad shape. It is slapped together with duct tape and bubble gum,” he said.

Not being Olympic-sized it cannot serve the high school’s competitive requirements but a new pool’s most daunting foe is the County Commissioners, who have refused to place the proposed sales tax hike on the April ballot, arguing that maybe the pool should be in Port Hadlock.

“Two of the three have signaled they are against it,” said the frustrated mayor. “If we keep arguing about, maybe it should be here, we’re going to blow up our ability to actually deliver this.

“I think it essential for public health, for recreation, our elders’ physical therapy. We are a maritime community reaching out into the Salish Sea where the temperatures are 46 degrees.”

Commissioner Kate Dean, who has supported the current plan, shares the mayor’s fears but is standing by her fellow commissioners’ strategy.

“We are slowing our roll and are going to take some more time,” she told The Leader. “We are researching a Public Facilities District as a way of getting more public involvement, who could then decide what the best path forward if any, to move the project forward.”

According to Dean, only 20 percent of sales tax is paid by out-of county residents while in-county residents who do not live within Port Townsend’s city limits pay three-to-one what city dwellers pay.

“If you go to Port Hadlock we’re starting all over again, the planning goes back to zero. All of this work that has been happening for years goes back to square one,” the mayor said, adding that moving the pool hinders the county’s greenhouse emissions plan. “It virtually guarantees everyone who wants to use the pool will get in a car and drive,” he said.

The current plan would be funded by $20 million in sales tax, $20 million in YMCA grants and a continuation of the $400,000 per year in city subsidies. Those subsidies wouldn’t exist outside of the city.

“If we care about the young people in our community then we need a pool,” said the mayor. “I learned how to swim in the current pool but I don’t think my daughter will be able to.”

The city’s plan would push the county sales tax from 9.1 percent to 9.3 percent and cost the local consumer between 10 to 40 dollars per year.

“I have been very involved for many years and many groups of smart, well-intentioned people have come to the conclusion that you would be able to create enough traffic to support a facility like this,” Dean said, “but the county has never been willing to fund an aquatic center. They are notoriously known for almost always needing a subsidy so the group came up with the least bad option. We landed on the Public Facilities District to spread the cost and minimize it. I fear that we will lose momentum and the good work that has been done but there is a lot of benefit in slowing it down and doing our due diligence. If we rush this to a ballot measure it would fail - we’ve got to get it right.”