Swim community stands ground, calls on commission to repair Freedom Hall Pool

Local swimmers, parents and coaches persisted with their message to elected leaders at a commission meeting Thursday that Johnson City should repair Freedom Hall Pool. Annalee Price, who swims competitively for Science Hill High School, was one of several community members who spoke during the general public comment period. She said she transferred to Science Hill because of its competitive needs. "Now that Science Hill does not have a sustainable pool to practice in, I believe that other kids will leave the school for the same reason that I enrolled," Price said. "Young swimmers that I know personally … are already talking about transferring to Dobyns-Bennett High School or Elizabethton to be able to continue the sport that they love — and that's heartbreaking." Ultimately, like all others who spoke during public comment, Price called on commissioners to repair the pool. Andy Morse, a parent of four students enrolled in Johnson City Schools, also spoke during the public comment period. Morse also represents the city on the BrightRidge Board of Directors. "To select, design, finance and build a pool will probably take four to six years," Morse said. "So a city that deserves a better competitive pool will instead be a city with no competitive pool at all." In his points to commissioners, Morse referenced the engineering estimates released by the city that repairs to Freedom Hall Pool would cost around $750,000 to extend the facility's life span by eight to 10 years. "Let's look forward to a state-of-the-art aquatics facility, but let's buy ourselves the time to get that done right by getting another decade out of the very valuable facility we have now," Morse said. Megan Williams, swim coach for Johnson City Parks and Recreation's Otters swim program and Providence Academy middle and high school swim teams, reiterated that repairing Freedom Hall Pool is the "best option" for the city and the school system. "Moving Johnson City school programs over to the MPCC causes its own set of issues for those that were using that space. Several programs will be drastically impacted or even having to be discontinued," Williams said. "We're not just talking about middle school and high school athletes here, we're talking about all of the citizens of Johnson City," Williams said. Williams also serves on the Johnson City Parks and Recreation Advisory Board. Along with the initial announcement that Freedom Hall Pool would be permanently closed, the city extended the hours of Memorial Park Community Center (MPCC) to accommodate. Community members have insisted this is not a viable solution because the center is already functioning at capacity with its current programs and does not meet competitive needs. Chris Coraggio, the swim coach for Johnson City Schools and Barracuda Swim Club, also advocated for the pool's repair during public comment as he has at previous school board and commission meetings. At the end of the meeting, Commissioner Todd Fowler was the first to acknowledge the community members who spoke during public comment. Fowler has served as the team doctor for Science Hill High School's swim team for decades. "I'm probably the largest proponent for swimming up here in this commission," Fowler said. "So I'm going to be behind getting a solution as soon as possible and get it started." Mayor Greg Cox was the only other commissioner to respond to the Freedom Hall Pool comments. "There's a lot of moving parts with it, and I hope that everyone in the community knows that none of this was taken lightly," Cox said