To the editor:

Regarding the topic of building a splash pad: I am not in favor of building a splash pad given the current financial condition and/or situation this city is in.

My family and I have lived here for 23 years and have made this town our home. Property taxes — went up. Water rates — going up. Utility Rates — went up. We are asked to keep paying more and more, which I understand is a necessity for these related things.

I can’t think of a single person I have talked to who is in favor of building this splash pad at this time and at the current location. It seems to me that a better location and time to build something like this would be to build it in conjunction with the new proposed swimming pool if/when that is built. These two seem to go hand in hand and I would think there would be a better system for recycling the water under a system that combined the two (pool and splash pad) into a water park. I am not certain where the swimming pool project is currently but a splash pad can wait until then. The maintenance for this could then be tied to the pool, which is a revenue generating system, and the use of it could be monitored more closely and be supervised so it is not abused or misused (as it likely would be in a stand-alone location such as East Twin Park).

In my opinion, our city administrators and council personnel need to be actively seeking and recruiting businesses and industries to locate here. We have a lot to offer if presented properly, including easy access to the interstate system for transportation, central location in relation to several large cities like Des Moines, Kansas City, Minneapolis, Omaha, etc.

We need to build a better climate to attract industry to locate here and not run them off as I understand has happened in the past. Let’s work harder on getting our empty commercial buildings filled. If possible, put the money currently allocated for the splash pad toward fixing the Webster Theater which is actually a plus for any community.

A splash pad will do absolutely nothing to attract a corporation or business to want to come here.

Rod Hicok

Webster City