More fundraising events set for city pool

Published 12:29 am Monday, September 12, 2016

During its meeting tonight, the Washington City Council could discuss the Save the Pool campaign’s fundraising efforts, including upcoming events.

In a memorandum to the mayor and council members, Kristi Roberson, the city’s parks and recreation director, provides details of upcoming Save the Pool fundraising events and notes that six fundraisers held so far raised $22,486.85.

A yard sale scheduled for Sept. 3 at the pool was postponed because of Tropical Storm Hermine. It has been rescheduled for Sept. 24 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the pool.

On Sept. 20, another fundraiser will be held at Zaxby’s, in which the campaign will receive a percentage of the sales recorded on receipts patrons drop into a box.

Another fundraising golf tournament is set for Oct. 11, followed by a Boo Bash Splash fundraiser Oct. 29. Another fundraiser at Pizza Inn (10 percent of proceeds and 100 percent of tips) is set for Nov. 7, and a Comedy for a Cause fundraiser (sponsored by Arts of the Pamlico) is slated for the Turnage Theatre on Nov. 19. The Swim with Santa fundraiser is set for Dec. 16. Details of those fundraisers will be announced later.

On Monday, Roberson could inform the council that the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners, during its Sept. 6 meeting, rejected a request to contribute $12,500 to help support the city-owned Hildred T. Moore Aquatic and Fitness Center. Roberson presented the request to the commissioners.

Earlier this year, the city asked the county for $357,263 to help operate the aquatic center. That request was denied. According to a city document, 54 percent of the people who used the pool in fiscal year 2014-2015 were county residents who did not live in Washington.

In May, the City Council endorsed a plan to better market the city-owned pool to increase membership and revenue for the city.

Council members also urged the city’s pool committee to develop even more suggestions to increase membership and revenue as part of the Save the Pool campaign. Under that campaign, the committee is tasked with raising money to help pay for replacing the pool’s dehumidifier, with the city providing a matching amount. Replacing the unit will cost about $145,000, not including the cost of installing the new unit in a different location that makes it easier to maintain and repair.

About Mike Voss

Mike Voss is the contributing editor at the Washington Daily News. He has a daughter and four grandchildren. Except for nearly six years he worked at the Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg, Va., in the early to mid-1990s, he has been at the Daily News since April 1986.
Journalism awards:
• Pulitzer Prize for Meritorious Public Service, 1990.
• Society of Professional Journalists: Sigma Delta Chi Award, Bronze Medallion.
• Associated Press Managing Editors’ Public Service Award.
• Investigative Reporters & Editors’ Award.
• North Carolina Press Association, First Place, Public Service Award, 1989.
• North Carolina Press Association, Second Place, Investigative Reporting, 1990.
All those were for the articles he and Betty Gray wrote about the city’s contaminated water system in 1989-1990.
• North Carolina Press Association, First Place, Investigative Reporting, 1991.
• North Carolina Press Association, Third Place, General News Reporting, 2005.
• North Carolina Press Association, Second Place, Lighter Columns, 2006.
Recently learned he will receive another award.
• North Carolina Press Association, First Place, Lighter Columns, 2010.
4. Lectured at or served on seminar panels at journalism schools at UNC-Chapel Hill, University of Maryland, Columbia University, Mary Washington University and Francis Marion University.

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