A handful of voters could seal fate of Cañon City’s pool project
CAÑON CITY — It’s all about the pool.
That’s largely what is driving the six people vying for three seats on a board that runs the Cañon City Area Metropolitan Recreation and Park District. The rec district maintains and operates several parks and trails, runs a before-and-after-school Kids Klub and offers a variety of leisure and sports activities.
And until two years ago, it operated a seasonal pool in the city.
But after more than 30 years of efforts to build a new pool and the eventual shutdown in 2023 of the worn out R.C. Icabone outdoor pool that had served the community for 56 summers the issue came to a crossroads: Does the rec district build a new pool and provide the money to operate it, or does it go without a pool?
The five-member board, with three members to be elected in a May 6 in-person election, will make the decisions about what happens next.
Currently, of the 66 Colorado towns and cities with more than 7,000 residents, Cañon City is the only one that doesn’t have a swimming pool within 3 miles.
The rec district spent a year holding public forums and conducting surveys to tease out what the community wanted and, more importantly, what it would pay for. Everyone involved knew it would be tough to pass a property tax increase after four previous defeats at the ballot box.
It came up with a plan that would pay for pool construction with a city sales tax increase. But it still needed a property tax increase for operational costs. How much would voters go for? The district settled on 4 mills, or about $80 a year for a home valued at $300,000. It would cover pool operations and other costs in the district, which had not had a tax increase since it was formed in 1965.
And in November, it got a split decision: yes on the funds to build a pool, no on a tax to operate it.
The city began collecting the 0.3% sales tax (30 cents on every $100 spent) on Jan. 1 to pay for the proposed $24.8 million indoor/outdoor aquatics facility. The money is passed to a special pool fund with the rec district. The tax will sunset Dec. 31, 2050.
The rec center and the city in April entered into an agreement to use some of the sales tax funds for preliminary design work. No construction will be done unless voters approve a tax increase to cover operational expenses.
The plan is to return to voters in November and ask for that money. But how much the district seeks — or indeed whether there is a ballot question at all — will be up to the board that is elected May 6 by what is likely to be a handful of voters.
The most recent district board election was in 2018, when there was controversy over possibly extending the Arkansas Riverwalk Trail. Kyle Horne, executive director of the district and the designated election official, said 373 people voted in person, and there were 12 absentee and one overseas ballots cast, for a total of 386 — just under 2% of voters.
Some years, there weren’t enough candidates to justify an election
Many years, there was no rec district election because there were only enough candidates to fill the board.
But this year, with the big pool project and how to fund it on the line, six people signed up to run for three, four-year terms governing the 115-square-mile district that takes in Cañon City and parts of Fremont County. (The state requires special district elections to be held in May of odd numbered years.)
Board Secretary Melissa Smeins, 50, is the only incumbent seeking reelection. She’s a Bureau of Land Management geologist who has lived in Cañon City since 2001, and has served on the board for one term.
The other candidates are:
- Shantel Corl, 37, an account technician with Fremont Sanitation District who moved to Cañon City with her family when she was 11 years old.
- Kim Maxson, 38, administrative manager at Fremont Sanitation District who has lived in Cañon City for 27 years. (She does not have a campaign site.)
- Kristina Post, 37, a freelance social media manager who has lived in Cañon City for nine years.
- Sean Rodgers, 34, a southern Colorado sales account manager for Performance Equipment Rentals who was born and raised in Cañon City and returned in 2020.
- Chris Wood, 40, a pilot-car driver for oversize loads throughout Colorado who is from Westcliffe and moved to Cañon City 20 years ago.
Board president Nick Sartori is term-limited. Vice President Joel Dudley is not seeking reelection.
The question is how many people will vote.
More than 20,000 of the district’s 28,000 residents are eligible to vote in the election, which will be held in-person at the rec district offices at 575 Ash St. The polls will be open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday. (Voters also will be able to cast ballots for the Cañon City Area Fire Protection board of directors.)
Horne said the district chose an in-person election at a cost of $10,000 because an all-mail election would have cost about $60,000. The ballots will be hand-counted.
It is up to the candidates to do the campaigning, Horne said.
The candidates diverge on the size of the pool and how to fund it
Most in the community learned of the election online via NextDoor, Facebook or word of mouth from family, friends and neighbors. A few yard signs have sprouted; leaflets and signs were handed out by Smeins and Post at a First Friday event in early April, and Corl, Maxson and Wood held a Sunday afternoon meet and greet at a local park that attracted a handful of people.
In interviews, all six candidates said they decided to run because they care deeply about the community and want to help find a way for the district to pay for pool operations. They also talked about the importance of other facilities and programs that the district offers.
All said they support building a pool, but Corl and Maxson said they believe the $24.8 million concept with an indoor lap pool and a seasonal outdoor pool with play features is too much. Both favor a single pool.
“I think we should scale back to just an indoor pool,” Corl said, noting that it wasn’t an option presented to the public. The options in the final survey were no pool, an outdoor seasonal pool, or the indoor/outdoor combination, which proved the most popular.
Their idea has not been floated publicly — neither has a campaign Facebook page or website, and it was not mentioned in Corl’s op-ed piece solicited by the Cañon City Daily Record or in any of her posts on NextDoor.
Horne said an indoor only pool was considered early on, but it would have been significantly more expensive to incorporate all the desired features. Building only a small lap pool would not meet all the community needs, he said.
In a NextDoor post April 30, Corl said her primary motivation for running was because of her poor experiences with Kids Klub, which offers before and after school care and summer programs.
Maxson said she does not use social media; she did submit an op-ed to the local paper.
Corl and Maxson did not attend the April 29 public candidate forum sponsored by Royal Gorge River Initiative Organization, Fremont Adventure Recreation and the Royal Gorge Association of Realtors. The candidates received five questions ahead of the forum, and three additional questions were from the audience of about 30 people.
Maxson said she skipped the forum because she needed to prepare for a family medical appointment early that morning. Corl said the questions were too general and that she watched the livestream of the forum instead. Both she and Maxson said in interviews they would oppose seeking a 4-mill property tax increase but would consider a smaller increase that would pay only for pool operations.
The other candidates at the forum agreed on much, including that seeking another 4-mill tax levy would be asking for too much from voters.
They each lauded the rec district for the number of programs and facilities offered given the small budget. The district is the second lowest funded recreation district in the state.
But they all said they recognize it’s going to be difficult to give the community the pool it wants — when it doesn’t want to pay the operational costs.
“I think the pool is an economic development issue,” Rodgers said in an interview. “One of the beautiful things in Cañon City is that we have a relatively low cost of living. If we don’t have the amenities to help people stay here, and we don’t have the amenities that make our community attractive, we will see our cost of living lower by $40 a year, but we’ll end up being a community with a lot of decay.
“I’m not coming in with a preconceived, hardened idea that I’m going to try to get through,” he said, noting that he’s attended rec district board meetings in recent months. “I want to be part of the team. I want the pool and I want to go through the process, but if Cañon City doesn’t get a pool I’m not going anywhere.”
Smeins, who was active with the district and the Piranhas swim team before she was on the board, said she wants to continue on the board because of the many projects that are underway, including the pool issue. She noted that the board has robust discussions where people feel free to disagree and work to find consensus.
“I would like to focus on building trust with the community,” she said, noting that the board should respect the November vote that rejected the larger mill increase. “I have been very vocal about that — we need to see a mill increase that incorporates just operations of the pool.”
Along with seeking a much lower tax increase to pay for pool operations, Wood said he also would like to see a focus on increased safety for those using the district’s facilities, particularly the riverwalk.
“I would like to get some lighting in some areas of the riverwalk,” he said, suggesting such improvements could be paid for with a grant.
Post said she wants to help shape the future of recreation in the district, noting that “we have a unique community with the outdoor recreation we have right here in the middle of town.”
“I think it’s a good sign that everyone wants to come up with a solution,” she said. “We need a pool.”