ABOVE: Sarah Sauck jumps into the Truman swimming pool on Tuesday afternoon. The pool, which opened for the season on June 8, was discussed on Monday evening by the Truman City Council. Photo by Vanessa Schultze.

TRUMAN – Monday’s Truman City Council meeting was dominated by questions and concerns regarding the Truman Swimming Pool.

Pool Committee Member Kirsten Bressler asked whether there were any complaints about how she and Faith Clow have handled the pool in the past. When asked for an example, Bressler cited family passes.

“I went up to try and buy family passes,” she said. “They told me no, we’re not selling passes, and I said, ‘Why not? That’s $300 right there.”

Councilor Danielle Williams said they had run into issues when they did offer passes in the past.

“Initially when we were doing the passes, and because of weather and other extenuating circumstances the pool had to shut down early, people have demanded refunds,” she said.

This is something they were looking at potentially rectifying, according to Councilor Chris Mosloski.

“People bring stuff to us personally,” he said. “It’s recommendations by the pool committee or people that are bringing to the pool; that’s what we go with. I had a phone call last week, and we’re discussing tonight about bringing the season passes back. We were trying to eliminate some of the confusion, and I think it added to the confusion instead.”

With concessions and admission funds all collected together, Bressler said there should be some clamping down on issues of employees breaking rules.

“I have also suggested that we put cameras up to make the kids [pay for food],” she said. “This is your job; this isn’t for you to come and eat the pool’s food for free. You’ll need to pay, just like everybody else. We’ve had some vaping issues with the guards, and I told Tammy [Payton] ‘That’s unacceptable, nobody else is allowed to do this stuff.”

Going forward, Mosloski said they wanted to ensure communication between City Council and the Pool Committee is done efficiently and through one source.

“We have a full committee thinking that you guys are talking,” he said. “We get here, and we find out that you’re not talking. This is exactly why we want you guys to get together and bring things to us. We don’t want to sit up here and answer to you, and then Patty (Truax), or whoever else, because I feel like we’re getting two sides, and that’s exactly what we don’t want. We do this twice a month, so we try to make things better, easier for everybody.”

Since the pool has opened, Bressler said it has looked amazing so far.

“The place looks nice, and it’s always clean,” she said. “Water aerobics has kicked off, and that’s been busy.”

After other business was settled, including approval of a new lifeguard at the Truman Swimming Pool, Mosloski returned to the issue of season passes and made a motion to bring back the purchasability of season passes for the pool, with the strict stipulation that they are non-refundable. The measure was passed unanimously by the council.

In other business:

— Amber Patten with CEDA asked about the remaining Jones development properties that the city still had. The council unanimously approved a decision to put a listing for the properties on a for-sale-by-owner basis on Zillow.com.

— Terry Theobald provided an update on his work in progress to open a business. He said he has put work into fixes, but he cannot do anything with the building until electricity is put in. Theobald said he wants to keep moving forward on this project and get his store open. Patten said she has been in contact with him and can help with finding opportunities for funding and a business plan. Mosloski said he wants to see what happens with getting electric finalized and discussions with CEDA, so the issue will be revisited in a month or two.