- Verna Oller, 2007
Three years ago when Verna Oller told me her $4,500,000 secret, I thought the hardest part would be to keep it to myself. As it turned out, that was the easy part. Waiting patiently to see whether the city of Long Beach will accept the money and build the swimming pool of Verna’s dreams is far harder.
Last week my Seattle friend Linda told me that an elderly neighbor of her parents was so taken with Verna’s story that he called the Long Beach City Hall and offered a substantial sum – in the five figures, Linda said – toward a pool maintenance fund. He was given a friendly but firm refusal. At this point, there is no ‘vehicle’ or ‘organization’ in place to accept such funds. The potential donor is enthusiastic but quite elderly (as was Verna) and it seems to me that time is of the essence.
I talked to the Long Beach Mayor who told me that the city is still discussing whether or not they will accept Verna’s generous gift at all. He said the city council needs a clear indicator from the citizens and the community that a swimming pool is, indeed, a long-term obligation that they want to take on. The sticking point is the cost of maintenance and operations – considerable on-going expenses that Verna’s gift would not cover. But wouldn’t a five-figure gift from a potential donor be a start? And wouldn’t it serve as a sort of magnet for other donations?
I talked with an officer of the bank to find out how a maintenance fund could be set up. I mentioned the ‘substantial figure’ that is still on offer. “There would need to be a non-profit group, perhaps something like ‘Friends of the Long Beach Pool’ set up and then an account could be opened and monies could be received,” I was told.
I have a call in to Verna’s trustee to find out what would be entailed in setting up such an organization. He’s out of town and has not yet returned my call. But in talking with others I know that there would need to be a group of people who would become the “Friends of” and who would form a board of directors, elect officers, and jump through a few hoops with the state and the feds.
I talked with the editor of our local paper who has expressed enthusiasm from the get-go. He would be willing to give considerable ‘publicity’ to such an effort.
Finally, I took a survey of my own energies and obligations and realized I can continue being ‘the messenger’ but someone better-suited to wading through all the bureaucracy will need take this project on. Surely, there must be someone out there who can bring Verna’s dream to fruition.
It would truly be a tragedy if the Long Beach passed up this opportunity to add substantially to the community. Surely there is a young resident who would be willing to oversee a non-profit group, maybe even with a stipend to do it.
How can the city of Long Beach not accept something of this magnitude? It would impact so many lives. However, in all this talk about the pool, we forget that we already have a community pool. The Dunes Bible camp has operated a pool on a shoestring budget for years. The Holmes family has an incredible amount of integrity, and if Long Beach can’t use the money wisely, I am positive that the Dunes Camp could.
I think that a big part of the equation are the legalities involved. As I understand it, Verna left the bulk of heer money specifically to the city of Long Beach and she left it specifically for the construction of a swimming pool/aquatic center. I don’t know what the provisions are, should Long Beach not accept the money and the terms under which it was left to them. I believe Long Beach has a window of several years to work out the details. It’s just that ‘Patience is not my middle name,’ especially if a non-profit group could be working towards a maintenace fund in the meantime. I do hope someone steps forward before the offers and momentum are lost.
As the individual working for the City to get the material and information in place so the City Council can decide if it is possible to go forward with the pool I can tell you a great deal of work has been done. At this point the Mayor is getting a group together to act as a task force to make the final decision to go forward with the pool, but this decision requires significant information and is one that should not be made hastily or without sufficient data and factual information.
Verna Oller was specific in her desire to make sure the City can support the pool’s ongoing operation in the fact that we must present a realistic five year O&M budget for the pool. Basic O&M runs around $14 a square foot the first five years plus staffing costs ($140,000 a year), $18 a square foot the next five years plus staff ($180,000) and it goes up from there as at the ten year point you start to have to make significant upgrades and replacements.
The cost of construction is another large number, from $180 to $300 a square foot with a basic small pool around 10,000 square feet (the above O&M numbers are for 10,000 square foot facility). In a 10,000 SF facility you could have a 25 yard 6 lane lap pool, a family fun unit about the same size with water slide and a small hydro-therapy pool, plus the locker rooms, equipment and utility rooms and small open space.
I talked to a person last week who wanted to donate $250 to the operation of the pool in the same fashion he donated to his church. I told him we would need to set up City Foundation or Pool Foundation so he could obtain the same tax or IRS benefits he has by the contribution to his church. Again, this is something we will do, but it takes time and we should not spend money on the process until we know for sure what direction we are going.
The City is working as fast as it can to make the best decision to move forward with the dream Verna Oller had, she understood it will take time and gave the City five years to make this dream become a reality. The City of Long Beach is in the process of doing this at this time.
Gene, thanks so much for all of that great information! As I say, “Patience is not my middle name” but it really helps to know that the wheels are turning, even if slowly. I commend all the hard work the city is doing on this unexpected legacy and appreciate that cautious planning now will assure smooth sailing in the future.
The one thing I forgot to put on here was my phone number at City Hall, 360-642-4421, and anyone that needs further information…and there is a ton of it, I will be very happy to discuss it with anyone as I really want the pool to be successful. And on a personal note, I really would love to build the pool but I have never have let a community do anything that they could not support. Also, I do believe we can structure this pool to be able to make it, all the O&M and the staffing…for years to come.