None of the council members spoke against the plan, which calls for $3 million in renovations to the city swimming pool and $1.7 million in renovations to the current home of the Big Spring Police Department. Mayor Russ McEwen instructed city staff to begin gathering hard numbers on both efforts.

“We have a law enforcement center that needs renovation,” said McEwen. “We have a correctional fund that was established when MidTex was out at the airpark, and that fund has around $2 million in it, and this is one thing that we can do with the funds. We can use it to make renovations to the law enforcement center. The one thing I don't want to do is raise taxes.”

McEwen also presented a plan that would pay for a large portion of the funds needed to address the recent closure of the Municipal Swimming Pool due to its failure to meet federal requirements.

“We have a bond that was paid off in February of 2009. The current rate on that bond (as applied to the tax rate) is 2.9016 cents, which will free up 3 cents on the tax roll. That generates $150,000 a year. On a $3 million bond, the annual payment would be right at $237,000, which means we would be looking at a difference of $87,000 a year.

“Instead of putting that $87,000 a year on the taxpayers, I'm asking the city staff to find a way to save that much on the annual budget. The pool is something the kids use. I feel like we have to have a pool, we have to have something for the kids to do,” McEwen  said.

Councilman Terry Hansen also had encouraging remarks regarding the $1.7 million price tag for the renovation of the Law Enforcement Center.

“We're looking at spending $170 per square foot to renovate the building,” said Hansen. “Renovation costs are very expensive these days, and you certainly can't build a new facility for $176 per square foot, so I feel like this a viable option.”

City Manager Gary Fuqua went over a collection of photographs and statistics from the police department building during the meeting, explaining the renovations would nearly double the amount of usable floor space in the facility.

“It no longer needs a jail, now that we're contracting with the Howard County Jail,” said Fuqua. “That leaves the top floor open, but for that space to be usable we need to get the old jail cells out of there. The offices are extremely small and have no storage space. We have the same problem with the interview rooms, where the officers have to have between five to six people at times.

“The plumbing is also a major issue. When the pipes are rusted out, we have to jackhammer the floor to get to them, or simply take the sink they are connected to out. There's also no elevator between the floors, and the only working shower — necessary if an officer gets something splashed on him or her — is in the jail where the inmates were fed.”

Fuqua said the renovations would eliminate the existing plumbing problems.

And while Tuesday night's agreement would seem to put two difficult issues facing the council to rest, City Finance Director Peggy Walker warned the current estimates are just that — estimates.

“These estimates are based on opinions. They are probable costs,” Walker warned. “We simply didn't want to spend a lot of money on studying something the council hasn't approved until now. If there's more asbestos than estimated, the price could go up. If there is less, it could go down. However, none of these numbers are set in stone.”

Walker also warned against depending on the $150,000 currently budgeted for housing city inmates to help pay for renovations.

“What we pay the county to house our inmates could eat into that number,” she told the council.

As for the pool, city council members seemed to be in agreement the facility should remain in Comanche Trail Park, and discussed the cost of other pools that have recently been built in the West Texas area.

“Brownfield just built a new pool for $2.4 million,” said Assistant City Manager Todd Darden. “It has a 265 person capacity and holds 160,000 gallons of water. Our current pool averages 300 to 330 people on a daily basis and holds 400,000 gallons. The new pool in Snyder cost $1.4 million, has a 140 person capacity and holds 88,000 gallons.

“We've talked some about the location, and the only change we've really considered is getting it away from the main entrance of the golf course.”

The council is expected to take formal action on these items at a later date.

Contact Staff Writer Thomas Jenkins at 263-7331 ext. 232 or by e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it