OTHELLO — Othello city officials are working to get the splash pad in Kiwanis Park open for summer 2027.

The splash pad was built earlier this year and was scheduled to be ready by late summer, but opening was delayed past the end of the season. City Administrator Aaron Garza said Monday that city officials are still in negotiation with the contractor.

"We're trying to get some reassurance on a specific date that it will be completed. That's what we're really focusing on," Garza said. "We've submitted our requests and we've given them our desires on what we want, and we're waiting for them to respond with what they're willing to do for us at this point. But it is something that is ongoing."

Garza said all parties want a resolution.

"We've explained to Northwest Playgrounds that we want it completed before summer of next year, so our community can enjoy it. They're aware of that, and they too want to complete it," Garza said. "We're on the same page when it comes to that. It right now is just a question of refining the expectations so that we're both totally clear on what the other person is going to do."

Garza updated Othello City Council members at the regular meeting, which also included further discussion of a construction bond proposal for the Othello Community Pool. City maintenance crews discovered extensive damage to the pool in 2024, and it's been closed since.

Council member Chris Dorow said it's not only a question of repairing the existing pool or building a new one; there are other financial challenges that go along with its operation. 

"There's nobody sitting up here who doesn't want to put the pool bond on (the ballot) tomorrow," Dorow said. "The biggest problem that we have is we have a giant question mark about funding, and it keeps me awake at night thinking that we may have the opportunity to build a pool that we can't open because we don't have the funds to open it. I think we have to answer that question first." 

City officials have four options for a special election, Garza said, which include February and April special elections, the August primary and the November general election. The council and city officials have committed to an April vote on a proposal to annex Othello into Adams County Fire District 5, and Council member Darryl Barnes said he considered that the first priority.

The city has a contract with the ACFD 5; annexation would tax property owners directly for fire services, which would allow the money the city spends on the ACFD 5 contract to be reallocated.

"Once that's approved, that opens up many dollars in efforts to restore the pool that the public wants," Barnes said. "We want to do both, we truly do, but we can't afford both right now."

Annexation approval would change that, he said.

    The timing of a possible construction bond for the Othello Community Pool – and finding money to open it – was the subject of an Othello City Council discussion.