While the City of Bridgeport talked about the prosed $18.3 million 2021-22 fiscal year budget Monday evening, it was something City Manager Randy Wetmore discussed briefly that will likely draw more attention from residents and others in the area.

 

“There are plenty of variables, but it is our hope and our intention, and that of City Council, to open the City Pool this year,” said Wetmore.

 

Last year, Bridgeport was like the majority of public pools in the state that did not open due to restrictions created by the state that made it a hard chore to open with any type of normalcy. While restrictions could be in the mix again, Wetmore said he is hoping either that will not be the case because of improved COVID-19 conditions or other factors.

 

“This is something (Parks and Recreation Director) Joe (Shuttleworth) and I have been talking about for a while,” said Wetmore. “We’ll be waiting to see what the state regulations may be and if there are any constraints in place. We hope to hear on that sooner rather than later.”

 

Wetmore said last year the guidelines were not put out until May. He said that would have made it difficult to open the pool regardless of the circumstances as it takes six weeks to get the pool ready for use.

 

“We think it will be an earlier decision this year because there’s a chance students will be back in school full time,” said Wetmore. “The state did say you could open last year, but the number of rules involved made it impossible for us to open. Right now, just with the kids going back in school, our thought process is it is going to be a better situation. At the same time, we do not know exactly what the situation is so we’re proceeding cautiously and with optimism.”

 

Wetmore has not been in the city long, but he has been here long enough – and in city management long enough – to know what the facility means to the community. He said it is the cornerstone of summer activities for families and children.

 

“There are a lot of memories made at the pool,” said Wetmore. “That is one of the things that made it a very difficult decision last year.”

 

The discussion on the pool came as part of a meeting focused exclusively on the upcoming budget that will be voted on by Council. The proposed budget of slightly more than $18.3 million at the moment is up from the $17.5 million budget currently in place – or roughly 2.5 percent.

 

“That’s really good thing to see this growth,” said Musgrave when asked about the increase during the pandemic. “Our department heads deserve credit, and our residents are just fantastic. They’re still paying their bills. Despite the pandemic, we actually reduced issues as far as collections.”

 

Musgrave pointed to a large carryover balance anticipated this year as a big reason for the increase. She said when COVID hit, the city put the brakes on all bigger capital expenditures.

 

“The department heads held back with their expenses, which helped tremendously,” said Musgrave. “The other thing is we applied for and received CARES Act money.”

 

Musgrave said the city received $3.1 million. It was placed in the general fund.

 

The budget includes a proposed pay increase of approximately 2.4 percent. There is only one new position planned and that would be to hire an additional member to the IT staff. With The Bridge Indoor Sports and Recreation Complex coming online, Wetmore believes that it is imperative to add to the department.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo, by Ben Queen Photography, shows action from the past at the City Pool. While City Manager Randy Wetmore is shown in the middle and Finance Director Monica Musgrave is shown below.