Look, at we have allowed Whitehall Council and Gateway Engineering contractors to do to our public land.
Brennan Plaza and Pool 5/8/2023
We can count on that pool opening on July 7, 2023?
Rebar set around the lap pool entrance
Crew at work
Monday - Friday 6?-2:30pm
Open ditch and exposed wire around the baby pool
2 of the 4 baby pool canopy poles up.
New concrete poured for ADA sidewalk.
Click here for your own panoramic tour of Whitehall Pool construction
Click here for your own panoramic tour of Brennan Plaza which has been closed and permanently damaged from pool work
Whitehall Pool
This project experienced staffing issues due to with the recommended contractors from Gateway Engineering. That is 6 million dollars that went into Whitehall's debt funded by a 7.5 million dollar 20 year bank note single-sourced at 2.2% variable interest Westbanco by incumbent-opponent Bob McKown*.
Finally on 4/7/2023 Whitehall government admits that it will not open on Memorial Day but June 1 , or later.
On 4/17/2023, WPXI reported on Councilman Stone's expert opinion that this pool will not hold water. Since Stone is a second generation stone mason, he is a true engineer-whistleblower who is facing facts brutally. The other side of the story was the opinion of Mayor Nowak who doubled down on the June 1 opening day. The piece did not mention how the pool was funded or how it got overdue.
At council meeting on 4/19/2023, it was explained that the pool area needs to be free of debris to install the pool liner. Unfortunately, there is still a great deal of excavation and landscaping work between Whitehall Pool and Brennan Plaza left to do. We can't open the pool, even if the liner was ready to go now. There's dirt ground everywhere. Grass takes time to grow. Mayor Nowak promised to a letter to the citizen's of Whitehall regarding a date certain on opening. Personally, I stand with Stone but I do really hope it will open on 6/1/2023.
Update 5/5: Cinqo de Mayo! The workers are long gone before 3pm, as they are on every other week day and no work happens over the weekend. The pool liner is supposed to be installed within 3 weeks of the 4/19 Council meeting making that deadline as 5/10. Since they only work business days, we now have only two more work days for the area to be "free of debris." Dirt is all we have back there.
We could have completely avoided adding 6 million in debt had our Whitehall Council allowed non-Whitehall residents to visit the pool through a Commonwealth of Pennsylvania grant that was offered. Democrat-opponent Glenn Nagy did not want any surveys or referendums. A six million dollar check was cut to Gateway Engineering's friends. Here we are, since summer of 2020 with still no functional pool in Whitehall.
Want proof that Glenn Nagy and Bob McKown knew that we were going to go into more debt AND raise taxes to pay 6 million dollars to do whatever Gateway Engineers wanted?
Welp, here it is:
https://whitehallboro.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/20200817WorkshopMeetingMinutes-Website.pdf
Backup Link Whitehall Borough Pool Workshop held August 17, 2020.
Or download the paper version of the petition and ask your friends to sign.
Don't forget to bring it to the next council meeting. Wednesday at June 7, 2023 7pm at the borough building, council chambers, 100 Borough Park Drive 15236.
Footnote: On 4/19/2023, Councilman McKown asked me to correct the spelling on this website at the last name on this website during council. This is the spelling that has been here all along. I have confirmed this spelling as per the elected officials page on the Whitehall Borough website and on the Allegheny County Elections Republican Ballot. The errors were in old Facebook comments which have been corrected since this request. This is what he chose to say instead of answering my question to council, "Will you commit to finish the pool and Brennan Plaza before you spend any more money on the parks?"
To his credit, Councilman McKown answered my clapback question of "Care to explain your relationship with Westbanco and the pool financing?" with an explanation that 1.5 million of the debt from the reconstruction of the firehouse on Route 51 was a roll-over into a loan with Westbanco and 6 million dollars was from the pool debt. My opinion is that it is a shame that the funds got intermingled like this to confuse essential service first responder needs with recreation spending. Also, my kid learned about needs versus wants in 1st grade. It is not clear that Mr. McKown CPA knows the difference between needs and wants.