GLASGOW—The Glasgow City Council decided Monday to proceed with commissioning a study about building a new pool at American Legion Park, which is expected to be an initial step in a decadelong plan to revamp the city’s parks.

A master plan from consulting firm Brandstetter Carroll Inc. for guiding the Parks and Recreation Department’s development for the next 10-plus years recommended first installing a new aquatic center to replace the public pool just outside American Legion Park. Mayor Dick Doty said the city pool, which was built in 1976, needs to be replaced.

“That’s a 42-year-old swimming pool, which is kind of an anomaly, but we are having increasing difficulty trying to keep that pool operational from the mechanical components of that pool continuing to break down and cause problems,” he said.

Chasity Lowery, a member of the steering committee involved in the formulation of the master plan, said the focus on a new aquatic center is based on desires the community expressed at an open house meeting and by answering several surveys Brandstetter Carroll provided.

“The No. 1 priority that kept coming up was an aquatic facility and upgrading some existing structures within (the) parks,” she said.

Lowery requested that the council make a motion to allow Doty to enter an agreement with “an architectural service” to prepare documents – such as a feasibility study and designs – to begin revamping the park and installing a new aquatic center. When asked if any money in the city’s budget was set aside for this, Lowery said no.

At council member Wendell Honeycutt’s suggestion, Lowery amended her motion to specify that no more than $25,000 be set aside for the feasibility study.

Patrick Hoagland, principal of Brandstetter Carroll, said the feasibility study could potentially be conducted within a few months. From there, if the necessary funding – the amount of which is yet to be determined – can be secured in time, the new aquatic center could be finished by summer 2020.

According to Hoagland, the plan currently calls for the new aquatic center to be built on the site of a softball field that is no longer in use.

The feasibility study, according to Parks Director Eddie Furlong, would focus on how the plan – which will likely involve moving the entrances to the park and adjusting the parking lot – can be made to work within the allotted space.

Furlong said the measures that will constitute the second phase of the master plan are undecided, but upgrading existing facilities throughout all city parks has been discussed.

“I know just in the steering committee meetings that we’ve had and the few Parks and Rec committee meetings that we’ve had, there’s been discussions of doing upgrades to all the parks in some form or fashion,” he said.

The city council also went into closed session to discuss “future acquisition or sale of real property.” When the council resumed open session, it approved a measure authorizing and directing city attorney Rich Alexander to negotiate the purchase of a 4.31-acre property between West Main and West Front streets in Glasgow that is currently owned by Farmers Investment Co. Inc.

Furlong, who Doty asked to join the council in closed session, said after the meeting that the property could be the site of a future park.

“There’s talks of a possible downtown park,” he said.

In another matter, Doty called attention to the Emergency Communication Center’s director Chris Freeman, who was recently named to the national Next Generation 911 Institute Board, a 12-member group that advises Congress on issues related to efforts to digitize 911 communication networks.

“It’s an unbelievable honor for Glasgow, for Kentucky, to have a rep on this board,” Doty said.

According to Doty, a representative of an emergency communication network in a city as small as Glasgow has never been on the national board before.

“This gives the little guy like us a voice in Washington for issues that impact our agency as well,” he said.