Rusk residents swim free at city pool this summer
Mar. 18—The residents of Rusk will be allowed to swim for free at the city pool this summer, thanks to a decision made by the Rusk City Council Thursday.
"We don't offer the kids a whole lot to do in Rusk, Texas," Mayor Ben Middlebrooks said.
Last year, the cost to get into the pool was $5 per person, raising approximately $12,000 in revenue for the city. The cost of salaries to operate the pool was $23,000.
"You've got kids where $5 is a lot of money and maybe they get a chance to come swim one day a week and the rest of the time they are standing on a street corner somewhere," Middlebrooks said. "For the $12,000, I think we ought to let the kids swim and hopefully there are three times as many people at the pool. I'd love to see the pool actually used. Come in and behave yourself and have a great time."
The council elected to give all residents free access to the pool this season. In the past, the pool has opened on the weekends during May, but no opening date has been set yet for this year.
Following a video conference with Morgan Laday, an Enterprise consultant, the council voted to authorize City Manager Amanda Hill to negotiate an agreement with Enterprise Fleet Management.
The recommendation from Enterprise is to cycle the vehicles every five years. A portion of the city's fleet of vehicles will be replaced each year. Benefits of the lease agreement are safer vehicles; fewer expenditures for maintenance and fuel costs, due to use of newer vehicles; optimum sale times, providing a better return on the used vehicles; and a fixed, budgeted rate for vehicle expenses.
The presentation by Laday indicated a possible $200,000 cost savings over a 10 year period.
Other items approved by the council were:
—the city's investment policy;
—an interlocal cooperation contract for failure to appear program with the Department of Public Safety that includes changes to comply with state mandates;
—a resolution cancelling the special election for District 2, as Maxine Session was unopposed for the position;
—a five-year renewal of the lease agreement with Rusk Youth Sports Association for use of the athletic complex;
—and the consent agenda, consisting of financial statements and meetings from the February meeting.
The members of the Rusk Police Department took, or retook, their oath of office, with Middlebrooks administering the oath.
"This is the first time in a number of years that we're almost fully staffed," Police Chief Scott Heagney said. "I thought it was important for the officers who have been here to retake their oath of office to instill in them the importance of the job that they do."
Among those taking the oath were two who had been promoted to sergeant and four officers new to the department.
The two receiving the promotion were Jeremy Farmer, who was pinned by daughter Kelsy Zelaya, and David Heridia, pinned by his daughter Arabella Heridia.
Three of the new officers are graduates of the Police Academy at Tyler Junior College who recently completed their field training. These included Mary Beck, pinned by her husband Josh Beck; Kesiah Giles, pinned by his girlfriend Giselle Rico; and Kodi Hamrick, pinned by his wife Emily Hamrick.
The fourth officer recently joining the Rusk PD is Cade Hughes, who transferred from the sheriff's office.
For information about the city of Rusk, visit rusktx.org.
