We do have a few folks out, but we do have a quorum, so we'll we'll go ahead and get started.

Before uh we go into the business items on the agenda, is there any public comment anyone would like to make for items not currently on the published agenda?

All right.

Uh good evening, Chair and Board members.

My name is James Warnicie.

Uh I'm here talking tonight because there were some important facts and questions missing from Tuesday's discussion about the Aquatic Center closure and the possibility of partnering with East Park Pool so that Los Alamos residents don't have to drive to Santa Fe just to swim.

First, county staff deflected the question of why this project is delayed.

They explained why the pump needs to be replaced, but they did not explain why the replacement was added to the project in July of 2026, despite the pump having a long lead time.

Why wasn't this identified incorporated into the project when it was first presented to the board two years ago when I was chair?

That's the question that needs to be answered.

And too often what the county initially presents to the public bears little resemblance to the final scope, schedule, or cost.

Second, I want to address the county's explanations for why it cannot partner with East Park Pool, which is currently the only pool still operating in Los Alamos.

The county says it doesn't have enough lifeguards, but it had five lifeguard staffing pinion.

East Park needs two guards from 6 to 8 a.m.

in the morning and four to six in the afternoon.

We're talking about finding a way to give residents four hours of local swimming each day instead of asking them to drive to Santa Fe.

That additional driving introduced its own costs and risk, and those should count when the county evaluates its options rather than simply transferring the inconvenience and risk to residents.

Third, when council asked how much the county spent on pignon, staff cited about $25,000.

But as I understand it, that was only the cost of having a contractor evaluate the boiler problem, not actually doing any work.

East Parks boiler is roughly twice the size of Pinones.

And I had the person who has worked on boilers and plumbing at Los Alamos pools, including the Aquatic Center, come look at ours for free.

And the $25,000 figure also doesn't answer another important question, which is how much did the county spend renovating and repairing Pinon this spring?

How many facilities staff hours went into the property?

And what was the total cost to taxpayers?

Those numbers matter.

They matter even more because Pignon is privately owned.

What improvements has the county made to privately owned property?

What is their value and who ultimately benefits from them?

Is the county considering purchasing pignon?

And if so, what effect will taxpayer funded improvements have on the property value and eventual purchase price?

East Park, by contrast, is a nonprofit organization and its assets and revenues exist to support the organization in the pool rather than to create a return for a private property owner.

I

know you're all volunteers, and I appreciate the time you dedicate to serving on this board, but this community needs you to ask hard questions of county staff, especially senior management, and insist on complete answers.

And most importantly, don't let this matter go.

I suspect the county would love nothing more than for everyone to move on, forget about these questions and stop demanding accountability, and that's exactly why you can't let this happen.

Keep these issues on your agenda, put your questions in writing, demand actual numbers, timelines, and explanations.

And when staff gives you an incomplete answer, ask again and again.

Because if there's one thing I've learned with dealing with this county, it's that accountability doesn't come voluntarily.

Takes pressure and sometimes it takes being a constant thorn in their side.

Don't let them run the clock out on you, and don't allow unanswered questions to quietly disappear from the agenda.

Your responsibility to the public doesn't end when staff finishes this

presentation.

It's when the public is thank you.

Any other public comment?

Okay.

Um first of all, I come in peace.

Um I'm Joe Granville, and I'm uh currently the vice president of uh Los Alamos Youth Soccer League.

Uh last month I came in.

Um in addition to our league, the um youth baseball and lacrosse um have a request that the uh parks and recreation department assume line painting as part of their responsibilities for the sports fields.

And so uh we had a bunch of different reasons why it would be a good idea and how it would benefit the community to create really a community asset.

Um tonight I just like to share one of the um one of the things we hope uh to get out of this, would be to be able to hold tournaments.

And uh so tournaments are a great way uh to address uh uh county councils, one of their priorities, which is promoting overnight stays.

So I wanted to give an example of uh one of the tournaments that uh we as soccer parents and stuff uh uh participate in every year.

It's in Durango, Colorado.

It's the Durango shootout, and it's hosted by uh Durango and um uh held at uh uh at Fort Lewis College.

Um so for the year twenty twenty five, Fort Lewis College, uh Cat School of Business does the economic impact on Durango and La Plata County.

Um that uh economic impact from that three-day Mother's Day tournament uh was more than two point five million dollars, uh which is includes uh sales tax revenue of a hundred and twenty-five thousand and lodgers tax revenue of eighty-five thousand.

Uh there were a hundred and sixty-six teams that came from the four corners, and uh three thousand uh players, families, coaches, officials, and vendors uh participated each day there.

Um so uh I wanted to share that with you

all.