Mr Bean at the Swimming Pool
ORANGETOWN — The South Orangetown school district has filed a notice of claim against the town, seeking the town’s payment of $950,000 toward the cost of its swimming pool’s multimillion-dollar renovation.
In the document, the district claims that the 2005 contract between the town and the district, which has allowed the town’s use of the swimming pool at South Orangetown Middle School from July 1, 2005, to June 30, 2010, also made the town responsible for the payment.
The town disagrees with the district’s interpretation of the contract and is getting ready to file papers with the state Supreme Court in New City, seeking the court’s opinion about whether the town is obligated to pay the money.
Based on the five-year contract with the school district, the town has been using the middle school’s pool for lifeguard training and recreational and instructional swimming.
In its court papers, Orangetown is expected to seek the court’s intervention in the district’s attempt to terminate the pool-use agreement before its expiration on the basis of the town’s breach of contract.
Orangetown is the only town in Rockland without its own swimming pool.
In 2004, town voters rejected the idea of building a $12.7 million pool complex on town-owned land at the former Rockland Psychiatric Center campus in Orangeburg.
The dispute between the school district and the town goes back to 2007, when then-Superintendent of Schools Joseph Zambito contacted Town Supervisor Thom Kleiner, notifying him of the district’s plan for financing the $3.8 million pool renovation, including new locker rooms, storage, seating and equipment.
Under the contract, the town has paid for half of the pool’s operation and maintenance costs up to $7,500 annually and shared custodial charges in exchange for use of the pool, Kleiner said
But the contract never intended for the town to help finance the multimillion -dollar renovation, Kleiner said.
“Neither the town nor the school district have ever, in the past, agreed to share in the construction cost of their respective capital improvements, and to be sure, the town did not do so when it entered into its agreement with the district for the use of its swimming pool,” Kleiner said in an affidavit.
The school district, however, argues in its document that the contract says that the town is obligated “to provide funding in the amount of 50 percent of any major unfunded system replacement and/or repair of equipment to the pool as required to maintain the pool in the proper working condition for the function and safety of all participants/users.”
No one was available for comment at the school district Thursday, but District Clerk Theresa Campanella said Superintendent of Schools Ken Mitchell said a 31-page PowerPoint presentation posted on the district’s Web site contains all necessary information.
The online document, dated Sept. 21, emphasized that the town’s use of the pool exceeded the school district’s hours, although the town hasn’t paid rental fees, and that under the contract, the town was obligated to pay the $950,000.
The town officials, however, argue that the pool-use priority has always gone to school district programs and that the town has been using the pool when it’s idle.
Kleiner said he was hoping that the issue would be resolved soon so the town’s pool programs could be continued without interruption .
“I’m hopeful that with a clear ruling from the court, we’ll be able to resolve it quickly,” Kleiner said.
By Akiko Matsuda
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