In Our View: Too long for Dawson
One can look at Google Earth of our area and find home swimming pools dotted throughout the community. Not every family can afford to have a swimming pool in their back yard. We can recall the glory days of Southside swimming pool in Ashland.
After its closure in the early 1990s, that left Ashland with just one municipal swimming pool. Dawson Pool is located off Central Avenue near the Ashland Town Center Mall.
The pool did not open in 2024. Despite promises from city officials it would open later in the summer, it never did.
At the last city commission meeting, Parks and Recreation Director Sean Murray gave an update on progress of pool repairs.
Right now is the time to be working on a municipal swimming pool. Murray indicated the majority of the repairs have been concluded. He anticipates an on-time opening Memorial Day weekend.
We realize this is right in the middle of winter. Most of our minds are not focused on swimming. Too many area residents don't have access to swimming for recreational purposes. In 2024, Ashlanders wanting to use the pool had to meet at the pool and take a city bus to the Flatwoods municipal pool.
Ashland has been working on consolidating expenses. In Washington, they have Department of Government Efficiency, aka DOGE. It is led by non-elected officials. Ashland is taking a different approach with elected officials and newly appointed city manager, Tony Grubb.
One of the items that recently caught our eye Is an elimination of a $300,000 IT contract. Grubb, working with city department heads, determined it would be more cost-efficient to have some of the police officers and a firefighter perform this task. Those departments have personnel trained in IT.
We realize that that's not necessarily the role of a police or fire department. At any rate, saving $300,000 is an efficiency.
This is the kind of thinking local governments need in today's world. Soon to disappear will be Covid funding, and the infrastructure funding from a federal program.
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