75% of staff will be laid off after Madras Aquatic Center permanent levy fails to pass – again

Update: Adding video, comments from district vice chair

MADRAS, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Just over 50 percent of Jefferson County voters who took part in Tuesday's Special Election voted for the Madras Aquatic Center Recreation District to be dismantled. But it looks like voters are not approving the required companion measure: a permanent levy that would create a brand-new district.

"It really feels like the community has spoken and just pretty purposely voted to not redevelop a new district. And so I think that's where a lot of the disappointment comes in," Jinnell Lewis, vice chair of the district's Board of Directors, said Wednesday.

 These two measures were first put on the ballot last November. Similar to this election's results, voters in Jefferson County approved the end of the current structure, but the measure to form a new district did not pass. 

Both measures needed to pass, meaning that again in this Special Election, voters have decided not to support the Madras Aquatic Center, which proposed a permanent tax rate of just under $1.20 per $1,000 of assessed property value.

"We're going to, like I said, focus on water safety and supporting the swim teams, because that was the original intention of this aquatic center," Lewis said. "And now that the voters have spoken, we're going to try and revert back to what they clearly want."

The center has struggled with a lack of funding for years, setting back upgrades to pool equipment and the expansion of recreational hours.

"We've been trying to limp along and can't do that any longer. We have been having to fix leaks in our pool liner for quite a while."

Lewis said 75% of its staff will now be let go, and recreational use of the pool could be closed for good by this fall.

"The earliest we could go out to renew that would be next year in 2026," she said. "So I think, knowing that that's coming up is another thing to consider. But it's a long way off, to keep pumping along with operating this facility on 65 cents (per $1,000 tax rate)."

You can see complete election results here on KTVZ.COM.