Election of community pool board October 7

Friends of the Tecumseh Community Pool (FTCP) member Steve Linn presented a report to the Tecumseh School Board at its meeting Monday, Sept 10, on the progress the group has made in renovating and improving the facility.“It’s looking really nice,” Linn told the school trustees. “There are a lot of positive things going on. Registration for the youth programs is in progress, with over 100 students signed up so far.” Trustee Matt Oren congratulated the FTCP for establishing a scholarship fund for students who are not able to afford the fees for the youth programs, such as Tigersharks, a youth swim club, and swimming lessons.Linn said that many improvements have been made or are in the process of completion as a result of the community passing the .25 mill initiative for support of the pool on Feb. 28 of this year. He also invited the board and the public to an open house at the pool on Sunday, Oct. 7, at 7 p.m. The open house is an opportunity for the community to see the facelift, but it is also an event that is important in the formation of the board that will oversee the operation of the pool. Guests at the open house will be able to cast their votes for the candidates for the governing board.Anyone wishing to be considered as a Tecumseh Community Pool board candidate may request an application to be on the ballot from the interim board by emailing tecumsehcommunitypool@g-mail.com or by calling FTCP Interim Vice President Michelle Spears at 734.260.2033. The deadline to register is Friday, Sept. 21. To date, five applications have been received.Candidates must live in the Tecumseh Public School District or be actively involved with the pool. The organizational plan is for pool board members to have terms of one, two, and three years to keep experienced members on the board at all times. Candidates may designate the length of term they wish to run for. Depending on the number of candidates, there will be between five and nine trustees elected.About $25,000 has been spent on the facelift so far. The entire facility has been scrubbed top to bottom and has received hours of volunteer painting, plus a host of equipment and furnishing improvements, including:• new rugs in the entrance hallway • new corrosion-resistant lighting in the locker rooms • new corrosion-resistant doors for locker rooms and restrooms (on order)• all drains in pool area have been cleaned• pool vacuum has been completely refurbishedLinn thanked the school board for allowing the vote that made the pool a joint facility and brought in the extra revenue. He said that many patrons have expressed their appreciation to FTCP members who are active in the physical labor and who volunteered their time for the improvements.Interim FTCP President Danielle Ward in a later interview said that most of the FTCP members had a hand in the elbow grease that is transforming the pool. “It’s looking good,” she said. “We are hoping that a lot of people come to the open house to see what their support has done. It’s still a work in progress, but the change is dramatic.”Ward said that voters will be given paper ballots and said she was confident that there would be no “voter fraud.” She said that the candidate filing deadline was necessary to check credentials of the candidates and print the ballots, but she felt there would be no one running who was not known to the FTCP members, with the same applying to voters at the open house. Besides thanking the board for its support Monday night, Linn also said that the FTCP wants to thank the community. One of the ways the organization has done this, he said, is to reduce the open swim (Saturdays, 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.) admission to $1 for district residents and $2 for nonresidents. He also said that the Friends have arranged for two former Olympic swimmers to come to the pool to help promote the program “Fitter, Faster” with a clinic on April 13, 2013. Information on pool programs and schedules is available by calling the pool at 423.5585.