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Wimberley parks board urges council not to proceed with aquatic-study bids, favors local subcommittee
Summary
Citing drought, funding constraints and consultants' costs, the Wimberley Parks and Recreation Advisory Board unanimously recommended that the city not proceed with current aquatic feasibility bids and instead form a local subcommittee to pursue partnerships and lower-cost options.
The Wimberley Parks and Recreation Advisory Board voted unanimously to recommend that the City Council not move forward with the current bids for an aquatic feasibility study (RFP 2025-03) and to ask the council to support forming a local subcommittee to explore lower-cost alternatives and partnerships.
Parks Director Rachel Buchanan told the board the scoring committee evaluated three proposals: “Brandcenter Carol” (score 254), Hotel and Leisure Advisors (score 214) and Kimley Horn (score 261), with Kimley Horn quoting $58,800 for the study. Buchanan said the original master-plan survey responses frequently referenced a desire for a swimming pool: "a lot of it said swimming pool," she told members.
Board members pushed back on the cost and the timing. Several members raised drought and water-availability concerns and warned that the Blue Hole budget — already committed to other projects such as playground work — might be an unsuitable source of funding. One member noted that quoted consultant prices can range far higher, and another said small cities often do not recover the long-term operating costs of public pools.
Rather than recommend awarding the current bids, Chair Laurie Olsen moved that the board advise council not to proceed with the RFPs and to form a community subcommittee made up of board members, park staff, local partners and a council member to pursue options such as partnerships with existing pools, subsidized pool passes, volunteer-led studies or a narrower, lower-cost consultant scope. "We would prefer to form a committee with local partners," Olsen said when making the motion.
The motion, as clarified and amended to include concerns about water availability and funding, passed unanimously. The board requested that staff and a possible subcommittee investigate local partners, explore subsidy or pass programs, and consider rewriting the RFP to require consultants to pursue implementation partners rather than produce only a traditional, stand-alone pool plan.
The advisory board noted the Council was scheduled to consider the matter the day after the meeting; the board’s recommendation will be forwarded to council for its consideration.
