MANSFIELD — Mansfield Mayor Jodie Perry is well aware of the community’s cries for a public pool.
While it may not happen for a few years, Perry said the city is moving in the right direction.
The mayor told members of council Wednesday night officials recently met with a consultant who could conduct a feasibility study on the project.
That analysis could help guide city officials on where to put a public pool, how much it would cost and other details needed to proceed with the potential project.
“There’ll be a public involvement component. So we’ll certainly want council there, but we want you to invite citizens and residents,” Perry said.
“I’ve made my stance on this public. I support the public pool, but we’ve got to find the right way and a way to pay for it.”
Perry said she plans to meet with representatives from Counsilman-Hunsaker, a Texas-based aquatic design firm, later this month.
“When we talked to them, they thought they could do it and we’d have a finished product by fall,” she said.
Perry said it will likely take a combination of public and private funding to complete the project. A feasibility study will make it easier for the city to pursue those funds.
“I doubt there’ll be shovels in the ground in 2026. It’s going to take a little longer than that,” she said.
“But (a feasibility study) is what we need to really start applying. I need to be able to show funders, ‘Here’s what it’s going to be, here’s how much it’ll cost.’ Right now, we just don’t know.”
Mansfield has had no public swimming pool since the Liberty Park pool closed permanently in August 2021 due to major maintenance issues.
The city attempted to raise funds for a new pool and other parks improvements in May 2022 with a 1/4-percent income tax proposal. City residents voted it down.
Parks department to offer expanded summer programing
Both Perry and public works director Louis Andres thanked the public Wednesday night for their support of the PRIDE tax and Pothole Haters tax, which were both renewed during Tuesday’s primary election.
“Those are absolutely vital for our city operations, particularly parks because that’s 100% our funding,” Andres said.
Andres said the parks department will be offering summer programming at four additional parks this year.
“In the past, we’ve only done it at North Lake for a couple weeks during the summer,” Andres said.
“This year, we’re going to be doing programming Monday through Friday at Burton, Johns Liberty and Prospect parks.”
Andres said those parks were chosen because they have restrooms, picnic shelters and are spread across different parts of town. He added that the event schedule will be posted soon.
Safety Service Director Keith Porch shared that the city’s IT department successfully got public WiFi up and running downtown.
He also told council members the police department is sending six officers to bike patrol school, which will bring the total number of certified bike officers to 10. After that, two officers will go to instructor school so they can train fellow officers.
During a general update, Perry thanked the members of council who attended the NAACP Town Hall on April 28.
“I think there was a good conversation had that evening. We came back as the city crew and did some debriefing the next day,” Perry said.
“We’ve got some ideas that we’d like to work towards about how we continue to get our officers into the community in non-enforcement situations, which is something that the police department loves to do anyways.”
Perry encouraged council members and the public to attend Bike-A-Pooloza on Saturday.
The Mansfield Police Department and other agencies will be hosting the free event at North Lake Park from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. There will be a bike rodeo, small bike repairs and inspections, food and a bike giveaway.
