City Rep. Niland chastises city manager over stalled construction on West Side pool

Once one of the city manager’s most vocal supporters, City Representative Cortney Niland once again chastised Tommy Gonzalez during Monday’s city council meeting.

Council approved the rest of the $473 million quality-of-life bond projects, but tensions rose over a specific project: an Olympic-style competition pool in West El Paso.

“Whose fault is it that (work on the) pool hasn’t started? Did we give you authorization last year to start it?” Niland asked Gonzalez.

Gonzalez reminded Niland the design has been approved, but the District 8 representative insisted on holding Gonzalez accountable.

“Whose fault is it then? It’s yours,” she said.

Last year, ABC-7 reported the budget for the pool ballooned from $8 million to $13 million.

The city held a groundbreaking ceremony last year, but construction has not started, much to the disappointment of local swimmers.

“I’m not going to be able to train in this pool for something I care so much about,” said 16-year old competitive swimmer Emma Karr, who broke down in tears. Karr said she was very nervous to be speaking in front of council, but felt she needed to let them know how much the project means to swimmers.

Council last year authorized Gonzalez to pursue a construction manager at risk contract for the pool, which expedites the process by allowing design and construction to happen at the same time.

Gonzalez weeks later brought the contract back to council, seeking for a more cost effective option.

The city last January sacrificed two other West El Paso parks to pump extra money into the pool. It also took savings from two other quality of life bond park projects, but was still short $1.8 million.

Gonzalez said he has saved the city $9 million dollars this fiscal year. Monday, council approved using those savings to make up the difference in the pool project.

Swimmers in attendance during the meeting thanked Gonzalez, saying he’s the only one who has delivered on the pool.

“He’s the one who had the meetings with us, keeping us informed and not keeping us in the dark,” said Sarah Garcia, who reminded Niland she never answered or returned phone calls when they called for an update on the pool.

That upset Niland, who tried to get Gonzalez to admit it was his fault construction on the pool has stalled.

“You know. We gave you authorization to start this pool. We gave you authorization to design and construct it,” said Niland before she was interrupted by Mayor Oscar Leeser.

Niland told Leeser it was not right for Gonzalez to “sell us out.”

The remainder of the $416 million quality of life bond projects will be constructed from now until 2023. Council also approved exploring other funding mechanisms for the projects including naming rights and public private partnership. They also agreed to place any savings from projects into a general pool for other projects.

The city has completed 35 quality-of-life bond projects for a total of $28.3 million. There are 35 projects currently in progress worth $61.5 million.