Whitehall to issue more than 800 pool pass refunds after project troubles
WHITEHALL, Pa. (KDKA) — We're getting more insight into the pool problems in Whitehall.
According to Whitehall Councilman Stone Sobieralski, some council members reportedly knew the swimming pool was not going to open as scheduled but continued to sell pool passes anyway.
According to the borough, the completion date for the pool project has been pushed back numerous times by the contractor. But the hope was to have it open by Memorial Day weekend.
However, Sobieralski told KDKA-TV, "We were told in March that the pool was probably not going to open until June or July. So I tried to warn residents about buying pool passes."
He warned residents about the pool problems on Facebook, but pool passes went on sale in April and now more than 800 refunds are being processed.
The councilman said other than the pool passes, the delay also has cost people money they paid for water aerobics and summer jobs as lifeguards.
"We, as council, are looking into that and trying to find a creative way to address that," Sobieralski said.
Residents were not happy about the lack of information throughout the process. KDKA-TV asked the councilman what is being done to provide them with more transparency.
"I made a motion about six months ago to have all our meetings live-streamed and digitally archived. Hopefully, we could reconsider that and I think that would be a big start in helping people know what's going on in their local government," said Sobieralski.
The next estimated completion date is July 6.