Meeting on Nov. 9 will determine if Dayton pool is possible

DAYTON - Building and operating a public swimming pool in Dayton will require formation of a general improvement district, said Lyon County Commissioner Bob Milz.

Milz, who is heading up a renewed effort to build a Dayton pool, will host a town hall meeting at 7 p.m. Nov. 9 at the Dayton Senior Center to lay out the facts of bringing a pool to the community. He said he will have an estimated cost for construction and operation at the meeting.

"A (general improvement district) is the only way," Milz said. "You can't take (a volunteer effort) to the bank and get a loan on promises."

Milz in the past year has resisted efforts by a committee called "Where's the Pool" to build and operate a pool on county-leased land with volunteer and donated efforts. Milz earlier had serious concerns that the county would have to shoulder the costs if the committee efforts fell short.

"I'm not against it, as has been reported," Milz said. "If, after the people understand all the facts, they wish to go forward, I will help them. But they have to be willing to pay for it."

Milz said volunteers and donations can still be used to build the pool but that he would only support the cause with a general improvement district to operate the facility.

He said Carson City architect John Copoulos has pool insight based on his experience with a feasibility study for improvements at the Mason Valley Swimming Pool in Yerington. He will share his insights during the meeting That pool is supported by a tax district as is the public pool in Fernley.

Dayton residents working as the "Where's the Pool" committee worked for more than year to collect pledges from builders and locals to build a pool at the undeveloped Como Park near the Dayton Senior Center and Dayton Branch Library.

County commissioners balked at the idea because the county leases the park land from the Bureau of Land Management.

When Sen. Richard Bryan, D.-Nev., read that pool efforts collapsed because of Como Park he sent his rural field representative to Dayton to bring Milz and pool committee members together to resolve the matter.

"The senator was concerned people had incorrect information on the acquisition of BLM property," Baker said.

The county leases the 26-acre Como Park property for recreational purposes. The county or a non-profit organization could build a pool there, said Chuck Pope, the bureau's deputy assistant manager of non-renewable resources.

"The county doesn't pay anything for recreational use," Pope said.

A non-profit would have to pay 50 percent of the fair market value as a rental fee for the period of development and then buy the land upon the pool's completion, Pope said.

"From our standpoint, that could be accommodated," Pope said. "A non-profit group could apply with the concurrence of the county or the county could apply."

A non-profit would have to submit a new application and a new plan of development while the county would only have to amend its plan, Pope said.

Milz said he has asked the district attorney's office to work on getting an improvement district question on the November 2000 ballot, if Dayton residents choose to follow his proposal.

"Once we know where the money for operations and maintenance is coming from, then it's a possibility," Milz said. "We want to do it right. If you don't do it right, why bother with it."

What: Swimming pool town hall meeting

When: 7 p.m. Nov. 9

Where: Dayton Senior Center

Why: To present facts on what it will take to build a public pool in Dayton