Community Corner

Dormont Pool Is Not Closing, Borough Officials Confirm

Borough officials are adamant that there is no truth to several recent rumors about Dormont Pool.

Dormont Pool is not closing.

The borough is not planning to sell the pool, and there has been no reduction in lifeguards.

Borough Manager Jeff Naftal and Councilman Jeff Fabus were clear on those points Tuesday afternoon, a day after a resident’s question on the matter sparked a heated discussion at Monday's Dormont Council meeting.

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“The pool is not closing. There is no reduction in lifeguards. There is no modification that would negatively impact the safety of any resident,” Naftal said on Tuesday. “In fact, any modification would be to enhance the safety of patrons, such as the removal of the diving board.”

During a public comment portion of Monday’s Dormont Council meeting, resident Judy Maggio asked council if there were any plans to reduce the number of lifeguards at the pool, saying she had heard this rumor recently. She also asked if any council members had been approached by organizations wanting to buy or lease the pool.

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Several council members confirmed that both rumors are false. Council persons Joan Hodson and Bill McCartney said there are no plans to reduce lifeguards at the pool.

McCartney said council did discuss a personnel issue about a Dormont Pool employee during executive session prior to the meeting, but that he could not share details of the conversation during the public meeting.

Municipal councils are legally allowed to discuss personnel issues during executive session and, as such, are not required to share that information with the public.

With the exception of Councilman Eugene Barilla, who made no comment on the issue, all council members addressed the concern of the sale of the pool. Some acknowledged that they understood it to be a serious concern given discussions about the pool that occurred several years ago, but all said that they had not been approached about any such offer.

Fabus, who has been highly active with Dormont Athletic Boosters for years, said on Tuesday that the rumors of pool closings are totally unfounded. He said that during his time on council, council has never discussed closing the pool, and also has never discussed selling it.

"It’s just a false rumor started by who knows who for whatever reason. It’s just not true," Fabus said. "The athletic boosters and the recreation board are always trying to bring people down there for events, so why would we want to close it? It's just sad that someone would want to start a rumor like this, for attention or whatever reason."

Despite the confirmation from council members, Naftal said he received a number of phone calls Tuesday morning from residents who said they heard the pool was closing. Given the pool’s significance to the borough, he said, he did not want there to be any confusion.

“Given the level of transparency we want in this borough, if any developer came in to discuss the pool, that would immediately be brought to council’s attention and to the public’s attention,” Naftal said. “There are no secrets.”


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