Hillsboro Finance Committee mulls city purchase of former pool property

Members of the Hillsboro Finance Committee voted to tentatively recommend the purchase of property on West Main Street, which formerly housed the city pool and is currently owned by the city’s mayor, during a 2 p.m. meeting Monday, March 2. 

The site of the longtime city pool, previously owned by the Hillsboro Swim Organization, was sold June 10, 2024 at auction to Justin and Sarah Harsha for $105,000. Justin Harsha is the mayor of the city of Hillsboro. The property is a 3.572-acre lot appraised at $162,900, according to the county auditor.

A handout from finance committee chair shows the current estimate, if the city decides to purchase the property, is $113,740.86. That cost includes the $105,000 original purchase price; property taxes totaling $2,023.22 for 2024 and $2,397.64 for 2025; $1,000 for an engineering topographic survey; $1,920 for maintenance; and $1,400 in utilities, plus any prorated taxes would be paid by the city as well.

Beyond the proposed initial investment to acquire the property, finance committee chair Gary Lewis said that city auditor Dawson Barreras suggested two other “phases.” The first phase would include the aforementioned estimated $113,740.86 purchase price, plus up to $10,000 in planning and design and up to $5,000 for permits and inspections. 

“That would be, for phase one, a conservative range of $120,000 to $128,000 … assuming there’s no major surprises,” Lewis said. “There very possibly could be surprises.”

Committee member Mary Stanforth pointed out that they can’t even begin to look at phases two or three until they decide whether or not to purchase the property.

Hillsboro resident Phil Loudin asked, “Can a public official even sell something?” Lewis indicated that the mayor could, and Barreras said, “He won't ever be involved in any of the negotiating or anything.” (Later, however, Barreras called the matter “a sketchy issue.”) 

The Highland County Press has reached out to city law director Hannah Bivens for comment.

Loudin then asked about the estimate being higher than Harsha’s original purchase price, and Lewis reiterated that it would cover the property taxes, engineering, maintenance and utility costs paid by the mayor.

“I mean, if I sell the city my house, I'm going to try to make a little bit of money, but I guess I'm just tied to all the taxes I paid,” Loudin said.

Later in the meeting, Loudin asked who initiated the discussion on a possible sale of the property, and council member Cody Mathews said that he, not Harsha, started the conversation.

“When I won my seat, I approached the mayor,” Mathews said. “I think he was as caught off guard by it as anybody. I do understand, there'll be some heat on him. I'm open to all the questions about that, but I do want to be clear, I initiated the conversation.” 

As previously reported, Mathews, who is the community enhancement committee chair, conducted a 90-minute meeting Jan. 16 to discuss several topics, including a possible community pool. At council’s February meeting, Mathews said that those in attendance at the committee meeting were “very supportive of a city-owned and operated pool.”

At Monday’s finance committee meeting, Mathews said he posted “an unofficial poll” on Facebook, where his followers indicated being in favor of the pool by a 151-12 margin. A more formal survey will be posted by the committee later, he said.

“[During his campaign] I talked to a lot of voters, and every voter that I talked to that was that had young kids, or they were a family, they were all very supportive of that idea,” Mathews said. “They thought the pool, given that the infrastructure existed there, was worth the investment. 

“I also think the way that we've talked about utilizing the money from the cannabis sales that we're getting from the state to do a lot of the purchase and the upgrades. Obviously, you know where I stand. I think it's a worthwhile investment.”

As previously reported, council voted in February to pass an ordinance making supplemental appropriations in the amount of $204,345.85 toward the parks department, as that amount was what the city received from the state for the past 18 months as part of their “host community cannabis payment.”

Also on Monday, Lewis asked the other two finance committee members, Stanforth and Adam Wilkin, to address comments that the pool had been “offered to the city” by the HSO prior to putting the property up for auction. Wilkin said he recalled council members touring the property with members of their board but “at the time, [the city] didn't have a lot of interest,” while Stanforth said the HSO wouldn’t “give the financials” so the city could gauge the actual cost to maintain and operate the pool. 

Stanforth, who at that time was finance committee chair, added, “We weren't financially in that part, that good to be able to take on a project that was going to require a huge amount of money.” 

According to previous city council reports, prior to the 2026 council, the most recent meeting to consider the pool acquisition was a parks committee meeting in March 2024. Former council member Don Storer, who served as parks committee chair, said the committee was “continuing our evaluation of the viability of assuming the pool into the parks system of the City of Hillsboro,” in his meeting minutes. Prior to that, the committee also met in October 2023 to review “the monetary points of running the pool on a day to day basis,” Storer wrote.

At the regular council meeting in April 2024, Storer asked to have the pool taken out of his committee after the Hillsboro Swim Organization determined the pool would be sold at auction.

Resident Phil Loudin asked if the HSO had offered to donate the property to the city, and Stanforth said she did not recall a written offer, more that the organization wanted to see if the city would “take over” operations. Loudin said he understood the city not having the fiscal means to run the pool but said they “should have taken” the three acres of property if that had been an option as a donation.

“At that time, I don't even think that crossed our minds, as far as the acreage,” Stanforth said. “It was the pool part, and that didn't really enter into it.”

Both Wilkin and council president Tom Eichinger said they remembered the pool needing multiple repairs, and Lewis asked Mathews if he could speak to that. Mathews said a liner alone would “run between $15,000 to $25,000,” while auditor Barreras said that new pumps would likely be “close to $30,000.”

Mathews continued that the “kiddie pool” at the property had also needed multiple repairs and proposed that the city could look into implementing a splash pad on that side instead.

Mathews also provided data from the city of Chillicothe, which operates three pools at an approximate $30,000 deficit with a $165,000 budget. 

“I haven't worked up any budgets, so I'm working with Dawson on as we get going through this, but you know, we're talking, I think, in that budget draft, one manager and three lifeguards, or one manager and five seasonal type lifeguards, where you're not incurring your benefits and stuff, you're just paying hourly wages,” Mathews said. “There's sponsorship opportunities. Chillicothe does that. They have three level tiers of sponsorship.

“They do passes, but they also do daily admission, and I think if the project were to go forward, I've talked about it in our community enhancement meeting that you want it to be something that's accessible. You can come up and pay $5 for the day and go to the pool.”

Loudin said that he had spoken to a former HSO committee member who said they “never made money” and were “spinning their wheels” by the end of the pool’s final season.

“We can anticipate all we want, but do we honestly have an educated guess of any return on investment, regardless of how much it is and where the money comes from?” Loudin asked.

“I’d be shocked if we made money on a pool,” Barreras said.

“I would second that,” Lewis said, and added there was “probably 100-percent consensus in this room.”

Mathews pointed out that there is a “second-level return on investment that you would get,” by “attracting new families” and being a community “that provides amenities like this.” However, Loudin said that housing will remain an issue, and comparing Hillsboro to other communities like Chillicothe (three pools), Wilmington (one pool) or Washington Court House (splash pad) is not “apples to apples.

“I think you’ve got to be careful trying to justify,” Loudin said. “I’m not saying I'm against the pool either. I'm just saying that anything to do with our tax dollars, even if we don't raise them, it's the perception out there.”

Following over half an hour of discussions, Lewis asked the group how they wanted to “frame a motion,” such as recommending the purchase “at an amount not to exceed” the figures presented. 

“After we vote on this and everything, would it be smart to get an appraisal for this property, just to make sure that our T's are crossed, our I’s are dotted?” Lewis asked.

Wilkin made the motion to recommend the city “move forward with purchasing the property, pending an appraisal. Lewis adding that it would be at a price “not to exceed $125,000 or the total cost, whichever is less,” but Stanforth amended that to $114,000.

“I have a problem with [$125,000], because I thought he had said that this [$113,740.86] is what he would sell it to us for,” Stanforth said.  

Lewis said that once they complete the appraisal, they would send the recommendation to council for further consideration.

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