Thursday, July 13, 2017

City of Lake Worth - They think they have a Pot


Well, I've said it before and I'll say it again--we don't have a pot to ....

The 2018 request from Leisure Services is $5,000,000.00 for an Aquatics Master Plan. That figure has been in effect ever since Bornstein came on the scene. I guess the city never got the memo that we don't have a pot to "P" in or that we will be running a negative budget this year.

Click to enlarge

In February, we heard a presentation by Bob McAllister, Aquatic consultant, who makes his money recommending aquatic facilities and hired by his friend, City Manager Bornstein. This presentation and for him to assess our pool area cost the city $12,218. Here are his estimated costs:
  • Option 1--$2,772,500 was to repair the pool and build a new locker room and make the necessary repairs to the Pump House.
  • Option 2--$3,272,500 or $4,612,500 with extra features includes Option 1 and converts the pool to zero depth so that little kids can walk in with no problem.
  • Option 3--$7,310,921 build a new aquatic facility
And then we had the Kimley-Horn (a company in business since 1967 and world renowned) presentation in May on what it would cost to repair the pool and the locker room facility. This surprised the City and stunned the Commission and did not fit into their agenda. Kimley-Horn said the building was structurally sound (that really surprised the City) and the following was all it would take to get our pool repaired, operational and making money.  Of course, there were some who just didn't want to accept an engineer's report.


WHAT IS REALLY GOING ON HERE?

What we do know is that Vice Mayor Scott Maxwell has complained about our beach for years and the fact that we can't pay the loan back to ourselves. Last year's commission voted to put the beach Fund in the red without raising one fee or looking for ways to make money. Maxwell seems to be enthusiastic on spending the same amount of multi-millions on an aquatic facility at our beach park.

And to say it again---

WHAT'S REALLY GOING ON HERE?

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

No no no, aquatic center, not aquatic park! Who would want an aquatic park, that's the worst idea ever.

Grand Opening: ******Lake Worth Beach environmentally green parking garage and green space with shuffle board * skate park * zen garden * farmers market area ******* 11/24/2019 ********

Aquatic Center @ Bryant Park: Grand Opening *** March 5 2020***

Anonymous said...

Politics. I think they're going to give away our pool property to someone who will develop it and then manage it so that they don't have to do anything but spend taxpayer money. They don't care what the people want.

Anonymous said...

8:43 hit the nail on the head for so many problems here in Lake Worth-they don't care about what the people want! They refused to fix our roads until the people were so desperate they gave in and voted for the roads bond.Something dishonest is happening in this town. Lynn is right about the stunned reaction to the Kimmley Horn Report. Instead of being happy that our pool was in better shape and more easily fixed than anyone thought, these butt monkeys on the dais looked COMPLETELY STUNNED(which tells you they never do any homework before the meeting).They stuttered around for a bit until Commissioner Amoroso started yelling about "THE BUSINESS MODEL! OH YEAH,THE BUSINESS MODEL"!! He threw this weird talking point to the other mental midgets and they all hung on!
It's been like Christmas around here since the road bond passed. TWO FULL TIME EVENT PLANNERS FOR OUR TOWN??? Benefits and raises being handed out to our Commissioners that would make Bill Gates happy?Etc.,etc. Something very bizarre is going on behind the scenes here.

Anonymous said...

OK.... let's say that spending half a million dollars ($500,000) on the old gal. Give this exemplary architectured extraordinarily sturdy structure a face lift and open her up for business again.

Then, Lynn, you will have won. You won't use it because you have your own fresh water swimming pool in your own complex if you wanted to go swimming.

It will still lose money and remain a relic of '70s municipal construction sitting next to a refurbished (re-constructed) Disneyesque complex with inadequate parking that treats its owners (us) as second class citizens.

Instead of the same square feet "making" us money through parking or more beachfront shops etc, we can keep subsidizing at a huge cost so that those few people that use the pool (in that location) don't get their feelings hurt. A new facility would be so much more used if it were more centrally located.

I don't want half a million dollars of MY tax money going towards that old dilapidated out dated money pit.



Anonymous said...

11.22 just because you throw big bucks on a new pool some place else doesn't mean that's the answer.im really tired of all you no-it-alls telling the rest of us what we want and need.where do you think the money is coming from or are you inside and you already know.another thing adding more parking is not going to bring in more money..

Anonymous said...

The aquatic park option was provided as a means of turning the pool into a revenue generating asset rather than the financial liability it has always been and by simply repairing would continue to be. No local looks forward to turning our quiet little secret into a public fun-park but, in the consultant's experience, that is how other municipalities have succeeded in making their pools self-sufficient.

With regards to the repair cost comparisons - this city has always taken the lowest bid, put a band-aide on every issue. You get what you pay for and when prices differ this radically, the low bidding company has created a very narrow scope with numerous contingencies which, in the end, cost far more than the original estimate. Numbers are only one aspect of any pricing review.

Lynn Anderson said...

Can't wait to find out what you really have in store for Lake Worth and OUR beach property, Mr. Bornstein.

Anonymous said...

A kickback from the 7 million dollar project water park developer, a mess of traffic at the already congested beach property, an ugly large garage to destroy the view of the ocean, and a continued empty upstairs restaurant space.
Florida is a sunny place for shady people.