Decatur County adoptes Ordinance 2025-7 defining public and semi‑public pools

The Decatur County Board of Commissioners adopted Ordinance 2025‑7 on June 2, 2025, a measure that defines and distinguishes public and semi‑public swimming pools and excludes private residential pools from the county’s permitting and inspection requirements.

The ordinance, introduced to the board by a presenter on the agenda, defines a “public pool” as any pool of not less than 1,000 gallons that is open to the community at large and is operated by an owner, lessee, operator or permittee regardless of whether a fee is charged. The ordinance defines a “semi‑public pool” as any pool of not less than 1,000 gallons restricted to residents, members or restricted guests and operated in conjunction with schools, hotels, apartments, condominiums, bed‑and‑breakfasts, camps, mobile home parks or membership clubs.

Commissioners said the definitions were the most substantive additions since the ordinance’s first reading; the text presented at the meeting also included an explicit exclusion for private residential pools. A motion was made to adopt Ordinance 2025‑7; the board voted in favor and the motion carried.

Board members asked procedural questions about how many readings the ordinance required and whether additional hearings were necessary. That procedural question—whether the ordinance required two or three readings—was discussed during the meeting but not resolved in the record of this session.

Pending procedural steps and scheduling aside, the ordinance establishes the county’s definitions and fee schedule as presented at the meeting; county staff indicated that the definitions will guide permitting and enforcement processes once those steps are completed.