Danny Woods was in charge of the pool for 14 years and had a lease for the facility that did not expire for another ten years.
"I want folks to know I didn't just up and quit on them," Woods explained Monday. "We had annual sponsors who helped and they know who they are and they kept things going for years. I didn't just walk off and leave their investment to sit and stagnate. I gave 14 years of my life to this. I got up at 3 and 4 in the morning for it. I tried hard and worked hard and I don't regret it a bit... I want to thank everyone who had anything to do with contributing in any manner, either monetarily or in any way to the pool during the 14 years that I was in charge of the pool."
Woods said some of the statements made during town council meetings were misleading.
"I was not aware anything was going on at the pool as far as redeeming it from the Shelton Burgess Community Center," Woods explained. "Living out of the city limits, I have no business or concerns with the town's affairs; therefore I don't attend town council meetings. I was never told or informed that the discussions were going on concerning the pool, until I read in the Logan Banner that the town had inherited a big problem, that they were faced either with repaying the monies issued through the grant to the state of West Virginia, not including the matching grant from the federal government, nor the 70 plus thousand dollars collected throughout the community of Triadelphia."
Woods said when he ran the pool he had approached the town for help on different projects at various times, such as an incident where he needed a back hoe to dig out a valve that was 16 feet beneath the surface to replace it.
"The town refused to let me borrow or use their equipment," he said.
Woods explained that a separate lease had been drawn up making the Sheldon Burgess Community Center responsible for everything at the park, including the pool and restaurant.
"I had several board members who were members of the Rotary Club and Jim Blevins was a board member. His name is on the lease," Woods said. Woods wound up being the chairman of the board of Sheldon Burgess Community Center (from which a lease was drawn up from Man Rotary Club), due to the fact that other Rotary members didn't want to deal with the pool. Woods said a committee had been formed which assisted him in running the pool which included Jim Blevins, as a board member, and one councilman's wife as the certified notary public.
"Being the chairman of the board, for the life of the lease, which was 25 years - and was not to expire until the year of 2019 - I can't understand why after so many years, of upgrading the pool, by myself, that I was never contacted and that meetings were going on concerning the pool and the town of Man redeeming the pool," he said. "It is not fair to me to make statements stating that the town of Man inherited the pool. They did not inherit the pool. They simply cut the locks without considering getting a key, or asking me to remove the locks. They replaced the locks with their own, and locked me out. I have a signed lease with Jim Blevins' signature on it ... I feel I should have been contacted."
Woods said he was bothered that the town cut the lock off without coming to him.
"And they went in and took stuff that they did not have a right to," he added. "I should have been notified as the lease holder by both the mayor and the state representative John McGarrity. John should have come to me and asked why the pool was not open. The answer would have been that in 2006, I had a severe back injury. Due to the logistics of the government I have been off work since that time. I had surgery on Jan. 17 of this year, 2008. Had the town not taken the pool and locked me out, I would have seen to it that it did open this year. Also the restaurant would have been opened too."
Woods said the pool itself is in decent shape and has a new pump and motor. For years Woods worked with Art Kirkendoll and the Logan County Commission and pool sponsors to keep the pool up and running.
"The filters don't need to be replaced. There are seventy in it and only three or four need replaced. We use the PSD water to fill the pool. That water doesn't have a high level of chlorine, so we add chlorine as needed through a tablet system that I built by hand. Tablets dissolve and go into the pool through the inlet side of the pump. The entire facility had been rewired. The restaurant has been completely refurbished. I wasn't even asked anything about the restaurant in so far as its operations. Up until this year I had always leased the restaurant for $400 a month, and that $400 accumulated through the winter. It created a start up fund for the following summer. Also, I had several contributors, people who gave each year. Those people have since contributed money to the town of Man for the reopening of the pool park. However, the park stays locked up and has never been opened for the public's use. And the pool has been filled with river water and has now become stagnant and a breeding place for mosquitoes."
"I just can't understand why the town refused to meet with me," Wood said, stating Kirkendoll had offered to mediate a meeting between him and the town council members.
"It was my intentions to help the town find a way to reopen the pool and get it going before swimming season began. By their refusal to meet, I feel that one or some of the members may have a personal vendetta, causing these meetings not to occur."
Woods told The Logan Banner he was thankful to the many supporters of the pool as well as all of the children throughout the years that helped to make the Sheldon Burgess Community Center a good recreational facility.
"I wish the community well and thank them for their support," he said.
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