(Jackson, Mn.)– A campaign to raise funds for renovations of the indoor pool in Jackson is about to get underway. Jeff Johnson serves as co-chairman of the Jackson County Central Pool Task Force, which just recently began meeting again…
“I think our last meeting prior to just a few weeks ago was like a year ago, but it was important that the political scene shake itself out a little bit because it’s really important that there’s good collaboration between the city and district for us to have the ability to fundraise.”
Johnson says the indoor pool at Jackson County Central High School needs an estimated $7 million in upgrades to bring it up to standards. He says the task force is looking to raise roughly a third of that amount, with the school district and the cities also each kicking in a third…
“We believe even though the economy isn’t strong right now, in the ag world especially, there are still, when you look at the surveys that they’ve done, an overwhelmingly regardless of how the survey was written, was supportive of the pool. I think that residents of both communities and surrounding communities really see the value of the pool, and so that’s our goal, is to come up with roughly two million dollars or whatever it is, to help renovate this pool.”
Andy Nesseth, also a co-chair of the task force, says it’s more feasible to save the pool than to see it go by the wayside…
“No matter what decision is made with the pool, if the school district decided to close it and walk away from it altogether, there’s going to be a significant amount of cost and I think from a lot of those engineering studies roughly equal to the cost of the renovations, and so to us it was like hey, we’ve got a resource here that is great for the community, great for the region, great for the school district. Let’s preserve that especially when the cost is going to be the same as essentially closing it down and trying to renovate that space to another use.”
Nesseth says the task force is currently in the process of obtaining a 501C3 status to help facilitate its fundraising efforts…
“We’re going to ask folks in the community, the county, the region at-large, to kind of help participate and of course we’re going to look for some corporate sponsorships and foundational dollars and things like that as well to try to spread that out. But, you know, first and foremost it’s getting organized, getting that information out.”
Nesseth adds there’s another reason why it’s important to have such a facility in the area…
“It’s one of those things that when folks come to visit and decide if they want to move here, it’s one of those amenities that they look at, right? What’s available in your community. It’s not just job opportunities and everything else. I just really hope folks look at it as an investment and see the value it brings to the community.”
Johnson and Nesseth add the task force will be extremely transparent and will be sharing information in a number of ways with the public, including through social media and a website.
