By RICK MILLER
Olean Star
Olean Mayor Amy B. Sherburne on Thursday vetoed the Common Council’s resolution from Tuesday to accept a $1.1 million bid for upgrades to the city pool in War Veterans Park.
The Common Council voted 4-1 on Tuesday to approve the $1,093,377 bid of Patterson-Stevens Inc., Tonawanda, for the pool upgrades including replacing the original sand filter system and piping, filling in the small youth pool and replacing the deck and some pool lining and tile.
The mayor called the council’s resolution “irresponsible.”
“These estimates completely omit critical structural work, including the required replacement and repair of the pool walls,” Sherburne said in her veto message filed with the City Clerk’s Office on Thursday and emailed to aldermen on Friday.
The mayor listed four points of opposition:
- Impermissible unbudgeted expenditures and incomplete fiscal scope.
- Incomplete initial cost estimates.
- Fiscal irresponsibility pending state comptroller audit findings.
- Expectation of AIM funding money.
A supplemental project may be necessary, but will take additional study of possible voids behind the pool walls. That is not expected to add more than $200,000 to the project.
The city received $850,000 from New York state to help[ pay for upgrades to the city pool. Aldermen had targeted another potential source of revenue, AIM, or Aid and Incentives to Municipalities.
Alderwoman Sonya McCall noted Tuesday that the estimate to demolish the pool and cover the area in concrete was about $400,000.
Outgoing Council President and Alderman Vernon Robinson Jr., cast one of his last votes on the council in voting to award the bid for swimming pool upgrades. He said it was the people who had demanded the pool be repaired and be available.
The county health department could not certify the sand filter system in 2024, and the pool has been closed ever since. It’s unclear when the pool project could be completed.
Sherburne said she supports “accessible, safe, and modern recreational infrastructure for all residents, this resolution as enacted impermissibly infringes upon executive administrative authority and mandates a complete project framework that is unfunded, structurally incomplete, and fiscally irresponsible.”
The mayor said, “There is a complete absence of budget appropriations. The current adopted municipal budget contains no allocated or operational funding for a pool project. Legislative directives requiring municipal expenditures without an approved funding source or allocated budget funding cannot responsibly be executed.”
The mayor added: “The City is actively awaiting the formal audit report and financial recommendations from the Office of the New York State Comptroller. Directing unbudgeted expenditures while under active state oversight jeopardizes the municipality’s financial standing and directly conflicts with our obligation to demonstrate sound fiscal discipline to state regulators and taxpayers alike.”
Sherburne said the council would reconsider the resolution at its next meeting Aug. 11. A two-thirds vote of aldermen then in office would overturn the mayor’s veto.
Sherburne said, “The Executive Branch remains committed to working with the Common Council on a fully engineered and fiscally sound capital plan once the decisions and recommendations of the State Comptroller’s audit report is released and proper budgetary sources are established.”
Two aldermen contacted by the Olean Star on Friday appeared ready to vote to overturn the mayor’s veto.
Newly elected Council President Lawrence “JR” Bennion, R-Ward 1, said he was “absolutely” ready to vote to override the veto of the swimming pool upgrades.
“I think the people have spoken and they want the pool to remain,” Bennion said.
He likes the math. There was only one vote against approving the swimming pool bid on Tuesday and two aldermen who were absent Tuesday are supporters.
Bennion said the pool and splash pad were issues when he first came on the council four years ago. “This can has been kicked down the road so many times.”
The new council president said he’d address more of the issues surrounding the swimming pool repairs at the next council meeting.
Bennion said he expects updates on the new splash pad adjacent to the city pool at the next committee meetings on Aug. 11, and “they’re not overly optimistic.” With four weeks to go this summer, the splash pad very well might not open this summer.
“We need a two-thirds vote on this when we reconvene,” said Ward 7 Democrat David Anastasia.
He said without retired Alderman Vernon Robinson Jr., in Ward 6, (he resigned effective after Tuesday’s meeting), he still counted a 5-1 vote to override the mayor’s veto with Alderman Joseph Keary, R-Ward 2, voting no again.
Besides Robinson and Anastasia, Alderwoman Sonya McCall, D-Ward 4, and Bennion voted to approve the swimming pool bid.
Alderwoman Jennifer Forney, R-Ward 3, and Alderman John Crawford, D-Ward 5, were absent from the vote, but are considered supporters of repairing and renovating the city pool.
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