“We are excited about the potential, but we have to be realistic about the next step” …

That comment from Dave Doherty, a Thief River Falls Destiny Driver Chair – his group focused on options to develop a long discussed Community Outdoor Swimming Pool.

Doherty appeared before the Thief River Falls City Council this week, to request $30,000 for a Feasibility Study to update the specifics in financing and maintaining an outdoor pool, which has most recently been tied to a community Wellness Center – potentially partnering with Sanford Medical Center in Thief River Falls.

Doherty said his group had done their research, conducting a benchmark study that included other Minnesota communities hosting outdoor pools – along with the review of a previous study commissioned specific to a MEC Center Site in the 1990’s – finally reviewed 9 requests for proposals in contracting a new study, before the recommendation this week.

City Administrator, Jodie Torkelson, says the funding could come from the City’s General Fund or from Reserves, with no mention Tuesday of more than two hundred thousand dollars sitting undisturbed in a City Swimming Pool Fund, adding interest annually since it was collected for a still un-constructed outdoor pool in the 1980’s.

Councilmen accepted the information and sent the issue on to the City Park and Recreation Committee for review.