Trent pool has renewed hope

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The town of Trent is saving its pool.
Board members with the Trent Community Association, the non-profit governing body for the pool, resigned, and a new five-member board has been named. That board has been able to get liability insurance for the pool and an umbrella policy that covers board members, for about $1,500, less than the original 12-member board was able to find.
In late May, the board advertised to sell the pool, which is on eight acres and was gifted to the community in 1952. The board was unable to find affordable insurance coverage for the spring-fed pool because the sand bottom is not visible and didn’t want the individual personal liability that could come with keeping the pool. Although board members didn’t want to see the pool no longer belonging to the community, they didn’t see any other options. They drained the pool and bought a liability insurance policy that covered it without it being a swimming hole.

Once others in the community heard about the auction, they asked the board to stop the sale for at least a month to see if a new group could find insurance and come up with a plan to continue operating the pool.
The new board, which includes Julie Wood, Tammy Wendell, Stacy Franka, Morris Kirkegaard and Lisa Brown, met with townspeople Monday night to get community ideas and give an update on the project.
The board and community will need fundraising ideas, help sprucing up the Trent Pool and other assistance, Wood said. One plan is to put in some camping spots on the property to have an income to help pay for the pool’s operation.
“I’m assuming we’ll probably try to set up a date for a major cleanup. We want to make it more a park than a pool,” she said. That way more people in the community could use the area.
Once the cleanup is done, including some work on the back side of the pond, it could be allowed to fill again with water, although it is uncertain if it would be used yet this season.
The new board also is researching grants and other avenues of raising money to help the pool be financially sound, Wood said.