Community volunteers have worked hard to raise the funds to reopen the Lansford Pool, since it closed in 2015 due to water leaks.

Now, after four summers without a pool, borough officials say there may be enough money to repair the pool and reopen it to the public.

Lansford Borough Council will hold a special meeting at 6 p.m. Monday at the borough hall, 1 West Ridge St., to discuss a proposal to repair the pool, possibly in time for the 2020 season.

Since 2015, the nonprofit Friends of the Lansford Pool have raised more than $50,000 to reopen the facility, and partnered with the borough to obtain a state grant for another $30,000. Council has set aside another $40,000, but some on council do not want to see any taxpayer money used for the project.

It was previously thought that the cost to renovate the pool would be several hundred thousand dollars, but there is now hope that the borough can fix the pool for much less.

Council President Bruce Markovich said that due to the pool’s worsening condition, council needs to decide whether to use its earmarked funds for the pool, or put it toward other needs in the borough.

“If we’re not going to do anything with this pool, there’s no sense in holding onto this money,” he said.

Rather than looking at a project to completely renovate the pool, as the council did in 2016 and 2017, the new proposal will focus on addressing leaks so they can reopen the pool for the lowest cost possible.

The Friends group has done much of its fundraising through grassroots events like soup sales and bike runs.

Friends member Rose Mary Cannon, a former council member, said the pool is an asset to the borough, not a liability as some residents see it.

“It breaks my heart the past couple years to see kids in the summertime, walking around,” she said. “Not everyone can drive to Mauch Chunk Lake.”

Cannon recalled that the pool was once a hub of community activity for residents of Lansford, as well as the surrounding towns of the Panther Valley. The grounds included pavilions and playgrounds, which attracted children and families for events, and older residents who just wanted a place in the shade to play cards.

Before the pool closed, the former employees and community volunteers combined to do a great job maintaining what they could, Cannon said, but it wasn’t enough without capital investments.

In 2015, the pool closed due to water leaks. The Lansford-Coaldale Joint Water Authority estimated that the pool was losing 30 gallons per minute.

In 2016, the borough hired a consultant who prepared a feasibility study on a complete renovation of the pool. The estimated cost of the renovation came back more than $700,000.

This year, with the state grant set to expire, the Friends met with council members at the pool, and identified repairs, which could be made to reopen the pool for much less than that. The exact scope of the work is yet to be finalized. Markovich said he personally believes the project can be completed with the contributions and grant money alone.

He said he wants to see the pool sustain itself financially going forward so that the borough does not have to use taxpayer funds to operate it. That would be different from in the past when the borough spent several thousand dollars per year to keep the pool operating.

“We’re hoping that we can get it open and that the people are going to support it. That’s the big issue,” he said.