A city committee recommended draining costs for new pool heaters and the Keep Kenosha Beautiful coordinator position, but failed to find a consensus on the city’s park budget.

The Board of Park Commissioners sent forward the park portions of the city’s 2010 budget with no recommendation on Wednesday after a 2-2 vote.

The city’s pools at Anderson and Washington parks served as the main point of discussion during Wednesday’s four-hour meeting.

The proposed budget calls for keeping the pools open for six weeks, between July 1 and Aug. 15, as opposed to the typical 10-week season. That should save the city about $120,000 in wages for lifeguards.

Several aldermen said keeping the pools open for their typical season was important for the city’s image.

“I think we’re shortchanging the community to not use the pools,” Alderman Michael Orth, chairman of the committee, said.

Orth made a motion to restore a full 10-week schedule, but no committee member seconded the motion. The committee asked for further information about attendance and weather during pool seasons in recent years before the budget is finalized.

“Until we can say we’re getting good bang for our buck, we’re wasting $100,000,” Alderwoman Kathy Carpenter said. “We need to be able to justify that cost.”

The committee, and several other aldermen in attendance, also suggested considering adding lifeguards to the lakefront or shortening the hours of operation at the pools while retaining a 10-week schedule to save funds.

Pool heaters

The committee earlier voted to remove $400,000 from the city’s Capital Improvement Plan to replace heaters at both pools.

Aldermen argued that the city would not lose that many days of operation without the heaters; water temperatures must be at least 65 degrees to keep the pools open.

Alderman Don Ruef said he was opposed to removing the funds for the heaters, saying the pools keep young people out of trouble.

“It’s quite the expense, but would we rather have (youths) in the pool or in jail?” Ruef said.

The committee voted 4-1 to remove the pool heater costs, with Ruef the sole opposing vote.

Position eliminated

Orth also suggested eliminating the salary and benefits for the part-time position of the Keep Kenosha Beautiful director, which is currently staffed by Catherine Mantuano.

Orth argued that the position’s salary had increased by 20 percent since 2008, and that city ordinances put the onus on the City Council to decide whether to allocate resources for that role or not.

“I don’t think it’s justified,” Orth said of the cost versus the city’s return. The position’s salary and benefits was estimated at $39,220 for 2010.

Casey called Orth’s proposal “comical” and suggested there was further explanation for the action, but did not elaborate.

The committee voted 3-1 to eliminate the salary and benefits for the position, with Casey objecting.

Tie vote

At the end of the budget discussion, Orth and Carpenter voted to recommend the plan and Casey and Alderman Jesse Downing opposed the budget.

Downing had earlier stated that he would not support a budget until the city had created a policy on how to deal with special event fees and sponsorships. Park Superintendent Jeff Warnock said the city is reviewing that plan.

The committee did approve the park portions of the Capital Improvement Plan by a 4-1 vote earlier in the evening, with Ruef as the sole opposing vote. Ruef left after that vote, before discussions on the full budget began.