ELLIJAY, Ga. – With little progress or interest on the county’s pool project from engineers and construction bids over the last year, the county has been looking to find reasonings for the project and adjustments that could help the project move forward to completion this year.

In a Special Called Meeting, the Board of Commissioners discussed the topic as Chairman Charlie Paris notified the board that recent inquiries have pointed to the diving well as a major issue in the pool. Both in construction and in use, the diving well produces certain liabilities for the county. A new proposal based on these findings would change the pool from its original design to a simple rectangular “competition style” pool with eight lanes and that is it.

Additionally, the county is still looking at an additional wading pool with mushrooms and other water features in it. But Paris said that many of those the county has spoken to about the designs have called the diving well a “bad idea.” Many have offered other features in place of the well, Paris noted water basketball as something that was mentioned, but any ideas offered have specifically focused on removing the diving well as a feature. Designs do still include the slide as well.

Paris also mentioned to the board that persisting on the diving well feature was a possibility if the board as a whole wished to continue. He said that he was told, “It would cost an additional quarter of a million dollars and liability insurance would become very difficult.”

Post Commissioner Karleen Ferguson recalled that she too, had discussions earlier in the project about the diving well with Cherokee County. She also noted the square footage usage of a pool design either way. Ferguson said that that facility has other functions as well and it was a beautiful facility, but she also noted that in her talks she discovered the facility never breaks even financially and always costs the community to operate.

Speaking of costs and lanes, Post Commissioner Hubert Parker mentioned an option to go with six lanes and include the diving well to accommodate less of an increase in costs. He noted that he wanted to accommodate the swim team while also looking at the pool as a community pool first and foremost. He went on to add that his thoughts were that diving is very popular and would be used widely.

Parker also noted other entities with community pools with diving wells. Parker and County Attorney David Clark noted a few together including the city of Calhoun, Fannin County, and Dawson County.

Clark also noted that engineers have spoken about the liability costs but no specific number has been presented to the board with regards to the increases. The county did also approve an increase in Hotel/Motel Tax and Clark noted that TPD (Tourism Product Development) projects could include costs for the pool construction.

The county approved a a design to be engineered to specifications for eight lanes and a diving well. With increasing costs, considering eight lanes and a diving well, considering what engineers have spoken to about the construction of the pool, considering the preparation work for the pool and stabilization for the ground to support the pool, Paris told the board that a rough guess on costs could exceed $2 million.

With the design approved, however, specific numbers and costs for the pool project will come after the engineering is done and the project is bid for construction.