Council should take the final step

Folks, this is going to be close.
While bids from contractors for the proposed new Portland Water Park (aka a swimming pool with extra features) came in below the engineer’s estimate, there’s still a little matter of covering the design costs.
The term for those in the construction industry is “soft costs,” but the dollars involved are hard indeed.
In the case of the water park, we’re looking at something like $300,000, a number that pushes the total price tag about $150,000 above the limit set by the Portland City Council when it’s added to the lowest construction bid.
And now the question is, will that number stop the project in its tracks?
Volunteers working on the pool project have put in immeasurable hours over the past year and a half trying to put this together. The park board has struggled valiantly to figure out what the city can afford and what it can’t afford. And the incredibly generous citizens of Jay County have reached into their wallets and pledged roughly $1 million to make it happen.
To its credit, Portland City Council also made a significant pledge of local tax dollars. (It is, after all, the city’s pool.)
But now, it appears, there’s a gap between what the city council has pledged, coupled with what the community has donated, and the final price tag.
So what do we do?
It’s possible that additional dollars could be raised from contributions, but let’s face it, any time you can raise a million bucks out of a community the size of Portland you have pretty much reached your limit.
It’s possible that the project could be scaled back somehow, but that’s hardly a good faith gesture to community donors who have been so generous.
The answer, it seems from here, is for the Portland City Council to re-visit its earlier ceiling on spending. In light of the community’s response, there’s every reason to give the project another look.
Is the city in a financial position to do this? Yes, it is.
In fact, its books are in much better shape than some of the community donors who have already stepped up.
Going forward at this point won’t require borrowing. It won’t strap the city financially. Instead, it would be a vote of affirmation to the generosity the community has already demonstrated.
It’s going to take a leap of leadership on the part of the Portland City Council, but the time to get this done is now. — J.R.