03/28/2026
Article in today’s paper:
Pb Swims denied letters of support for CDS grant application
Pb Swims went in front of the Lake County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC), Leadville City Council and the Lake County School Board this week to ask for letters of support in regards to an application to a Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) grant. None of the three entities agreed to give letters of support.
The CDS grant would have paid for the first of three phases to renovate and reopen the pool at Lake County Intermediary School (LCIS), which was closed in 2021 due to liner issues and deferred maintenance. Pb Swims had also applied for a CDS grant in 2022 after a recommendation from Senator John Hickenlooper’s office, Jane Harelson, Pb Swims chair, said.
“We understood the Board of Education wanted assurance that the full amount for the renovation be secured or that there be a clear path to securing it before engaging in a conversation about renovation,” Harelson said in her public comment to the board.
Five-hundred thousand dollars had been raised through the 2025 city sales tax that goes to the Aquatics Center Fund, and $88,004.90 had been raised through local contributions to the Pb Swims 501c3 as of Feb. 16, according to a news release. The cost of a full LCIS Aquatic Center renovation would be around $17.4 million, Harelson said. A pool task force was created in Sept. 2025 between the county, city, school board and Pb Swims to coordinate, plan and recommend viable options for a community pool.
Both the BOCC and the LCSD Board said the pool task force hadn’t decided on a location, and its purpose so far has been to find out how to use the funds. Pb Swims on the other hand, argued in public comment at the meetings that the LCIS was the most sensible location given its strong structure and olympic-sized pool footprint already present.
Harelson said that the other possible options were new builds that would end up being a smaller pool size, and a shorter lasting building.
The BOCC deferred any possibility of a letter of support to the outcome of the school board meeting, since it is their building, Candace Bryans, Lake County Manager, said in the March 17 BOCC meeting.
“Our pool task force, the focus right now is figuring out what is the best use of funds that have been collected to provide swimming access to the community,” Bryans said in that meeting. “Not necessarily to figure out if that building is the answer.”
The LCSD Board did not decide to write a letter during their March 23 meeting. The board said that without knowing what entirely they want to do with the LCIS building, they couldn’t agree to any letter supporting a proposal for the building.
They also said they had worries that any work done to the pool would call into question the broader building infrastructure. LCSD Chief Financial Officer Jim Mulcey said they are currently working on replacing the LCIS’s grease trap, but they also found a low point in the sewage line as it passes through the pool.
“That’s a bit of a Russian doll right now,” LCDS Superintendent Kate Bartlett said. “Every time we take one apart, there’s another one and another one.”
School Board Treasurer Lauren Snyder said it feels frustrating that the board is dealing with issues like Bright Start facing a possible lack of a home and a 1.5 billion dollar shortfall at the state government, yet they dedicated time to discuss a swimming pool.
“I feel like there’s so many priorities for our community, from housing, childcare, K12, Medicaid programs that our kids and families rely on that we should be talking about if we’re going to make a request,” Snyder said. “A pool would not even be on my top ten, if I’m honest.”
But for Pb Swims, the pool is a big need of the community. Harelson said that she knows there are plenty of big issues to be dealt with, but access to a safe aquatic facility would help mitigate water accidents.
“[The] second leading cause of death in kids one to five is drowning,” she said. “So it’s like, yeah a pool may not seem that important because we have so many other things falling apart.”
Without any letters of support from the other entities that make up the pool task force, Pb Swims will not pursue the CDS grant.
“We are going to continue on our mission,” Harelson said.
View the Leadville Herald for Thursday, March 26, 2026
