Peru council agrees to form pool construction committee

The Peru City Council discussed the next steps in constructing a municipal pool and agreed Monday to form a pool committee.

Peru Mayor Ken Kolowski brought up the pool referendum during the old business portion of the city’s Committee of the Whole meeting. He said the first step to move the project forward would be developing a committee.

“I’m looking at how many people we should put on the committee, how many aldermen, how many people from the citizens,” he said.

The referendum received 3,396 votes in favor (68.6%) to 1,553 against (31.4%). The ballot question asked residents if the city should construct and operate a municipal swimming pool funded by the use of the hotel/motel tax.

Alderman Jim Lukosus said he believed if the council chooses to form a committee, it would need to be a public meeting since if there were two aldermen on it, it would be considered a legal meeting.

“Anyway for transparency, you’d want them to be open to the public,” he said.

Alderman Tom Payton said he agreed it should start at the committee level, but that Parks and Recreation should be the actual starting point with Adam Thorson, two aldermen and two to three citizens.

“I think Adam should form a committee under parks and rec,” he said. “Because you’re the one that’s going to be responsible for the pool ... And just so you know I would gladly step out and let everybody else do their workables then bring it through committee levels from there.”

Kolowski said he didn’t know how many members typically were on a committee like this.

Payton said when the city had a committee for the police station it had two aldermen and the mayor, but there were never more than two elected officials there.

He said he believed the pool committee meetings should be held on different nights as council and committee so that the members could bring their agendas to the committee they would be under.

“I think we ask [Eric Carls] to put this in a capital project,” Payton said. “And have Eric’s department kind of head it and lead it because he’s done it before with the police station.”

Carls, director of Engineering, said it would be a capital project and would follow the same process as other capital projects such as the splash pad and the police station.

“I don’t think you are on the wrong track,” he said. “But, I think you need to identify who is going to be a part of that committee first and certainly our office would help support and facilitate the meetings and the process.”

Aldermen Rick O’Sadnick and Andy Moreno said they would be willing to serve on the pool committee.

Kolowski said he would be the one deciding who would be a part of the pool committee with Sherry Mayszak, the former alderwoman who pursued the pool referendum since last fall. Mayszak has filed a petition to run for city clerk.

Mayszak said during public comment of the council she would like to be a part of the pool committee.

Nothing was decided on Monday and the council didn’t discuss the project during the council meeting.