Town of Jersey Village

Jersey Village residents on Tuesday rejected a second bond proposal to build a new community pool. The current facility, deemed obsolete by the city, will be closed.

Just over 57% of Jersey Village voters were against the $10,100,000 bond in this year’s election. Last year in November, 59 percent of voters posted a $19 million bond intended to build a new pool and surrounding park. According to the city, Clark Henry Pool is about 50 years old and voters were told the current facility would close next year whether the bond passes or not.

Jersey Village Mayor Bobby Warren said the current pool has had many problems and is reaching the end of its lifespan. The bond on this year’s ballot would have financed a new aquatic complex.

“These issues have become a lot bigger over the last 18 months, so we knew we could either try to put a band-aid on the problem by spending some money, (and) if we’re lucky, gain a few years more. the road,” he said. “We really thought it made more financial sense to build a new facility”

Between the first and second bond attempts, Warren said the city held public information events to gauge residents’ opinions and found that most were concerned about the amount of money the first bond requested.

“Some people preferred a less expensive option, like a facility that looks a lot more like what we have now,” he said. “Other people really wanted the city to take advantage of the opportunity, because if we’re going to build a new facility, we might as well look at improving it (and) adding new features.”

Warren said one of the reasons he thinks the bond failed is because the election took place during a presidential election, which often sees much higher turnout.

“I think our turnout in this election, for Jersey Village, was close to 80 percent,” he said. “Any time there’s a huge election, like a presidential election, I think the local issues on the ballot can sometimes be a little skewed because voters may come out to vote who aren’t normally as engaged on those issues. local issues than someone who regularly votes in municipal (elections).

The next steps are unclear at this time, but Warren said the city council will discuss its options.

“I think if we were to have a bond proposal, I would like to see it on the primary ballot in our normal municipal election cycle,” he said. “I really want to make sure that we have people who deal with city business on a regular basis…not someone who lives in town but just voted…and doesn’t know for sure what all the votes were the problems.”