A new public swimming pool in Charleston could save lives by teaching children how to swim and improve the health of senior citizens who engage in water aerobics there.
Those were just a couple of the benefits touted during a July 20 groundbreaking ceremony for a planned Charleston pool.
The pool will be situated adjacent to the city’s Shade Street Park Walking Trail, near the intersection of Shade Street and North Vine Street.
The 25-foot-wide by 50-foot-long pool will feature varying depths from shallow to a deep end.
The space will have numerous amenities, including bathrooms. The pool will feature an ADA accessible lift chair for special needs individuals.
For safety’s sake, the perimeter of the pool property will be fenced and feature a locked access gate, and a lifeguard will be present at all times that the pool is open, according to District 33 state Rep. Tommy Reynolds, who also serves as Charleston city board attorney.
Reynolds has been one of the leading proponents of the pool project, even purchasing the patch of ground on which it will stand and deeding it to the city for $1 in November 2019.
The site holds special sentimental value for Reynolds, who said he donated the property in honor of the late Lee and Rebecca Newsom. The couple, who lived in a house that once stood there, were like grandparents to Reynolds. His childhood home was just up the hill from “Papa New” and “Mama New.”
Federal, state and local funding sources will pay the roughly $589,000 cost of the pool project.
A federal grant in the amount of $218,000, sought by the Charleston city board, was awarded in September 2021 by the U.S. Department of the Interior’s National Park Service through its Land and Water Conservation Fund. That money is being funneled through the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks’ Outdoor Recreation Grant Division.
During the 2021 legislative session, Reynolds had language inserted into a state general bond bill to designate $150,000 for the “City of Charleston Shade Street Health Complex Fund” for the pool project.
The Charleston Rotary Club donated $30,000 to the city for the project, Reynolds explained.
The remaining $100,000+ will come from funds generated by a 2% sales tax on foods and beverages prepared and sold in Charleston, Reynolds said. Proceeds from the special municipal tax, approved by voters in a March 2020 referendum, are earmarked for parks, recreation and tourism.
The attorney noted that the contract allows one year for construction of the pool, which means it might be open sometime next summer.
Reynolds recalled that the city once had a public swimming pool, located near the Charleston Lions Club building. The pool was closed and filled in some 50 years ago.
A public pool at the former Charleston-East Tallahatchie Neighborhood Facility, located on Oak Grove Road, was closed in the late 1980s after Charleston officials said it was too costly to maintain.
Reynolds and city officials believe a new pool will offer many benefits. A cooperative spirit has guided the effort.
“This is a project where the entire community and county have pulled together and worked together,” Reynolds said recently. “Charleston’s new swimming pool will, upon its completion, give much pleasure and enjoyment to the people of Charleston and Tallahatchie County.”
In previous remarks, Mayor Sedrick Smith has said, “Health and wellness are a top priority here, among other things that we have, and we are just appreciative of it.”
Smith has noted that he hopes the East Tallahatchie School District “will take full advantage of [the pool] and teach swim classes and things like that” to students.
