It was on this date three years ago, November first 2018, the Paso Robles school district held a special meeting to learn of the progress in building the proposed aquatic complex at Paso Robles high school. The board approved the concept in January 23, 2018.
In April, 2018 superintendent Chris Williams and his school board held a ground breaking for the pool at the high school. Williams bought a million dollars worth of equipment from an Italian company.
Then, nothing happened. Finally a meeting was held on this date three years ago. Chief business officer Brad Pawloski telling KPRL back then people were excited about it.
But it didn’t. The problem was the district was going broke, and that Measure M money could not be used on the pool. Superintendent Chris Williams had used a boundary in the Measure M election which excluded Pleasant Valley, San Miguel, and other areas which feed the high school. So, Measure M money cannot be used at the high school.
At the meeting three years go, school board member Chris Arend said he appreciated the discussion after six months of silence, and no progress. He called it “An unfortunate situation.”
The sales pitch for the aquatic complex was like A Field of Dreams. Build it and they will come. Even if it’s expensive to visit Paso Robles.
Three years later, in response to the grand jury asking questions about more than a million dollars already spent on the pool, chief business officer Brad Pawlowski encouraged the board to move forward and they gave him the thumbs up to develop a new scaled down plan for a pool at the high school.
They can’t use Measure M money, but there’s a budget reserve now. It was completely exhausted by the administration of Chris Williams, but the covid shut down has replenished the budget, and so the pool is back on the table.
The design may be different. But soon, there may be another ground-breaking for a swimming pool at the high school. Hopefully it won’t be followed by three years of inactivity.
