By Megan Ma

Los Altos City Councilmembers discussed changes in a contractual agreement for the development of a community pool on Rosita Avenue at their Nov. 14 meeting.

The project remains unchanged, as does the sentiment - build a pool facility at Rosita Park.

The fundraising and design group SPLASH (Swimmers Promoting Los Altos Aquatics, Safety and Health), has contacted the non-profit Los Altos Community Foundation to execute the contract with the city. Two councilmembers have balked at the new development.

Mayor Ron Packard said the organization doesn’t have the expertise to design and maintain a pool and that he prefers that SPLASH members form their own non-profit organization.

Community Foundation secretary Henry Roux refuted Packard, although he was not at the meeting.

“SPLASH is a community organization that required the assistance of a non-profit. … We do have expertise in money management for those types of projects,” he said.

Councilman David Casas agreed with Packard, but emphasized that he was pleased with the progress (on the pool) and commended the SPLASH team.

SPLASH Executive Director John Day said the foundation would serve simply as a fiscal conduit between the city and SPLASH members.

“People signing checks want reassurance. (The foundation) will control the money,” he said. Day said the agreement would work smoothly.

Also under discussion is the issue of whether the Los Altos Hills city government should enter into the contract.

Just as both communities share the city library and other resources, the same could be arranged for the community pool, said Los Altos City Manager Phil Rose. Hills residents and those living in unincorporated areas in Los Altos would have equal access to the pool, he said.

Jointly developing a pool complex would mean that both councils would share any future deficits as well. Los Altos city representatives plan to meet and discuss the issue with Los Altos Hills councilmembers in the next few weeks, said Los Altos Councilwoman Val Carpenter.

“Approaching the Hills people is really important. I think that makes it truly a community pool,” Day said.

Los Altos resident Eric Lutkin, a member of the Rosita Neighborhood Coalition, a group of 100 families who live near the proposed pool site, said he believes Los Altos residents should receive first priority when it comes to pool use.

“While we all want to be good neighbors, providing such equal access to these two groups is just wrong for a Los Altos community facility,” Lutkin wrote in a recent letter to the council.

The council will discuss these issues further at its Dec. 12 meeting.

In other news, the city council approved the Los Altos Hills sewer agreement, a contract between the city and the Hills to regulate sewage from the town that flows through Los Altos pipes.

The contract allows Los Altos Hills to send 332,400 gallons of sewage per day through the Los Altos sewer system to the treatment plant in Palo Alto. Under the penalty clause in the agreement, Los Altos Hills would be fined $1,000 per day for the first 90 days the town exceeded maximum flow, with daily treatment costs exponentially increasing to eight times that amount for violations greater than 180 days.

Los Altos city staff, headed by Public Works Director Jim Porter, recently rejected Los Altos Hills’ recommendation on how penalty fees should be assessed, calling their rationale “unacceptable.”