Conroe leaders, residents dispute handling of Westside Recreation Center after pool removed

City officials and residents debated the condition and recent work at the Westside Recreation Center during the Conroe City Council workshop on Feb. 12, 2025, after staff outlined years of repairs, missing permits and floodplain constraints and residents said the center lost a major community asset when its pool was removed.

In an administrative update, Ms. McKeska, a city staff member presenting the item, said the city bought the Westside Recreation Center in 2021 for about $2.5 million and has since spent “over a million and a half dollars” on repairs and renovations, including more than $600,000 on the pool. She told the council some of that work had been done without permits and inspections under prior administrations, and that boilers and electrical systems at the site had been failing for some time. “The boilers have issues,” McKeska said. “We’ve been ongoing trouble with the boilers from some time.”

Why it matters: Council members and residents said the pool’s removal — described by a councilmember and several speakers as having occurred recently — is a tangible loss for users and raises questions about transparency and asset management for park facilities. City staff said long-term floodplain and federal requirements…