LONGVIEW, Texas — On Thursday, Longview will hold their city council meeting and one of the items on the agenda has been a popular topic around the town recently.
"One of our discussion items is what we’re gonna do for the current pool situation, what’s the plan moving forward," Derrick Conley, Councilman for Longview District 1 said.
The pool has already been voted on to close, but district one city councilman Derrick Conley says that because of the community response, they’ve decided to discuss it again.
"So the people feel valued and heard and that's the thing, I feel like that’s our job as elected officials," Conley said.
The Longview swim center has been located on the Pine Tree High School campus for more than 50 years. Recently the city said the pool needed millions of dollars in repairs, thus resulting in the decision to close the pool.
"It's an opportunity lost for us personally but I know a lot of other families and kids that live close are losing an opportunity to be out in the community some more," Jose Herrera, a Longview resident said.
Herrera is one of many residents hoping that the city council changes their mind, however his wife has worked quickly to get the voices of the community heard.
"I have over 275 responses so far... in a week," Kamie Herrera said.
Earlier this year, several options which had a wide range in price, were presented to the City Council concerning the future of the swim center.
"The first was to abandoned the pool for 150,000 dollars, The second was to close the lap side and then do some updates for about 2 million dollars, and then the 4 million dollars was to completely replace these pools and update them, but then to completely abandoned this pool and build new would be 14 million dollars," Kamie said.
While it’s not the only pool in Longview, the few other options may not fit the budget or location for residents who frequented the swim center.
"It is not as affordable for people, I mean we’re talking a dollar or two dollars versus 7 dollars and that’s just not feasible for some families," Kamie Herrera said,
But besides the fun, Herrera sees more than just memories lost if the swim center remains closed.
"There were about 800 kinds that received swim lessons this last swim season here and that's a lot. And that's 800 kids not getting swim lessons this year," Kamie Herrera said.
So the Herreras along with many other Longview Residents are hoping for a positive outcome from the city council.