Rotary Club to pay final pool note soon
By CHRIS BARBEE cbarbee@leader-news.com

Pool Pals At Play The El Campo Aquatic Center has been a popular summer destination for youngsters since it opened in 2005. The center, which offers a play area in addition to a lap pool, was made possible by a Rotary Club fundraiser and grant efforts. The city now owns the facility which is open year-round. L-N Photo by Brenda Sommer

El Campo Rotary Club board members looked at the numbers and determined the club could pay off the note on the El Campo Aquatic Center this year. The $1.9 million facility opened to the public Jan. 8, 2005.

"YES! We are going to pay it off! We are in the process of getting the 'ducks in a row,' Rotary President Gary Raybon e-mailed the Leader-News following the club's board meeting Thursday afternoon.

"We need to cash in a couple of CDs and get a distribution from the Wharton County Community Foundation (where Rotary has an account for the pool project), then we will have it behind us. I would like to have a note burning ceremony and celebration at a future Rotary meeting, and have members of the committee involved," he said.

Approximately $69,000 remained unpaid on the bank note, Raybon said.

Another successful fundraiser made it possible to pay off the ECAC this year. Net income from the March 20 seafood dinner, raffle and benefit auction was $65,587. In the last four years the public has supported the Rotary Club with net contributions of $252,078.

Rick Marik, as presidentelect of the Rotary Club in the spring of 1998, conducted a survey of members to see what project they felt the club could start during his year as president. The number one project mentioned was a swimming pool, and the club accepted it as a project that fall.

After five years of study, negotiations, fundraising and pledges for support and operation of the facility, Rotary Club broke ground in February 2004.

"We had a goal of paying off the note in 3-5 years (after construction began), so we're right there," Marik said.

"There are a bunch of people to thank, such as all the presidents who followed me and carried the ball and continued to run with it. The idea never died. It stayed first and foremost in everybody's mind."

Without big donors it would not have happened. Texas Parks & Wildlife Department kicked in $750,000, LCRA granted $188,000, the Johnson Foundation $200,000 and Gulf Coast Medical Foundation $100,000. And many donations totaling up to $10,000 or more came in as well.

"It was a community effort," Richard Young, new chairman who saw the project to completion after Marik took a leave from Rotary, said.

"I'm proud of what we have. Some may see it as a distraction, but I don't see that at all. I think about all the kids who have gone through there, and all the swim meets that have been held. It's the envy of every community around here," Marik said.

"I have no regrets at all. It's something we accepted as a needed project back then, we continued on with it, and I'm so proud of what we have today," he added.