OTHELLO — The fate of the Othello Community Pool – whether to fix or replace it, how to fix it, and when – was the subject of a lively discussion at a special meeting of the Othello City Council on Monday.  

The pool was closed in 2024 following the discovery of extensive damage. It’s been closed since. Othello residents rejected a $3.5 million bond request in November 2025 that would’ve paid for repairs and upgrades to the existing pool. Othello City Administrator Aaron Garza said another bond proposal is one of the options; the city has been working with consultants, and they have told him conditions have changed.  

“Obviously that price has increased. I would anticipate the cost to repair the pool, responsibly, at the bare minimum would be somewhere around $3.5 to $4 million,” Garza said.  

Garza said he would recommend a comprehensive repair job rather than a short-term fix, if council members opt for repairs. A second option would be upgrades and replacement.  

Othello Mayor Ken Johnson told the Columbia Basin Herald in a later interview it’s going to take a while to get the pool open, no matter what the council decides. He anticipated 2029 would be the earliest opening date.  

The city and Adams County Fire District 5 are working on a proposal to annex Othello into the fire district, which will be on the ballot in April 2025. Part of the discussion on a possible pool bond centered around the timing.  

Garza said placing both a pool proposal and the annexation on the ballot at the same time was an option. Council member Chris Dorow said he thought the decisions would be easier if residents had a chance to vote on fire district annexation first.  

“Once we know where annexation is, we have a lot of questions answered. As soon as that passes, we have an operations and maintenance budget that is back in our hands to use again,” Dorow said. 

Council member Angel Garza said it was important to know the financial status of fire services, because the pool would be another financial challenge.  

“With the pool, we’re always in the red,” Garza said. 

Spencer Williams, the city’s finance director, estimated the operating deficit for the pool at about $150,000 at a minimum.  

Dorow said it would leave the city in an uncomfortable financial situation if the annexation failed while voters approved a pool bond. The city would have to find the money to pay for fire services, in whatever form that took, while operating the pool.  

“One of the things I greatly fear about passing a bond before we have all our ducks in the row is annexation not passing, and we build a pool and we can't afford to open it,” Dorow said. “I can't think of a worse situation to put this community through than to be in that situation.”  

A committee was formed in 2024 to study the options and recommend a solution to the council. While the council ultimately opted for repairs to the existing pool and upgrades to its electrical system, the committee found some support for replacing it with a bigger facility with more toys and activities. Johnson said that debate is still out there. 

“We’re getting kind of a split,” Johnson said.  

People who would be using it want it back as soon as possible, he said, citing the example of Othello’s swim team. A second group would be willing to wait longer for a bigger facility. 

City officials need to hear from both groups while they’re deciding what to do, he said. 

Garza said Othello residents need to decide what they want for a bond to succeed. 

“We need your input, to tell us what you want, what you need, and what you’d be willing to pay for, now and in the future,” Garza said.