City and county were asked to take over MACRD: not interested

Published 12:14 pm Thursday, July 24, 2025

After voters rejected a new tax base plan for the Madras Aquatic Center Recreation District in May, the board of directors in June closed the pool and ended the district’s out-of-pool programs due to dire financial difficulties. In light of the desperate situation, board members recently asked both Jefferson County  and the city of Madras if either would consider taking over district operations. Neither wants to.

At its July 21 board meeting — which turned very contentious once public comment began — Vice Chair Jinnell Lewis said she and Secretary/Treasurer Jean McCloskey recently reached out to Jefferson County and city of Madras officials to gauge if there was interest in either of those entities taking over MACRD operations, and at this point there is not. Lewis said the city flatly rejected the concept, but did offer to see if there were any transient room tax they could contribute to the MACRD.

At the county level, Lewis and McCloskey met with County Administrator Jeff Rasmussen and Commissioner Mark Wunsch regarding a potential Intergovernmental Agreement for the county to take over the district’s operations, but while there was plenty of discussion, Lewis said there was no takeaway that the county would consider taking over the struggling pool and recreation program at this point.

“We discussed establishing an IGA (intergovernmental agreement) as a trial run for the county to take over our organization,” but she noted that would “come at a cost” for the county as it would obviously bring additional personnel, facility maintenance and other costs. The county administrator would become the director of the MACRD if the county took over operations, said Lewis, who added she didn’t “think they were for it” after the meeting with Rasmussen and Wunsch.

The board also noted there has been discussion of “privatizing” the pool, for instance, seeing if an organization like the YMCA would be interested in operating it. Board member Frank Maynard said he would research that potential.

The board plans to reopen the pool Sept. 29.  MACRD Executive Director Courtney Snead reported that staff developed two options for the board to consider at its next meeting.  For pool operations from Sept. 28 through Nov. 15 –  Option 1: open Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and Wednesday and Friday, 4 to 7 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday 3 to 6 p.m. Option 2: cuts out the 7:30 to 10:30 a.m. hours.

“The adopted budget includes 15 hours a week for operations,  so we are ‘borrowing’ the additional hours from the spring season. Option A is more aggressive and assumes/hopes that people will turn out to swim and revenues will be generated,” noted Snead.  “Option B gives them a more conservative approach.  If the board goes with the first option and revenues do not materialize, then we would have to reduce hours in the spring and it could also negatively impact hours next summer.  The entire MACRD staff team of six is going to recommend Option A to the board at their next board meeting.”

“We are attempting to be responsive to the community,” said Snead at the July 21 meeting.

Regarding recreation, the board agreed to establish a policy through which they would loan athletic equipment that the district owns to approved organizations that plan on continuing the athletic programs that the district has jettisoned.

Snead said new mandated safety-related signage, at a cost of $4,000, will be installed around the pool, with installation targeted for before the September opening.

Snead’s contract 

The meeting was conducted with a packed house of roughly 40 waiting for public comment. When it arrived, many unleashed on the board and Snead.

Former MACRD employees were among the most vocal during the comment period, calling for board members and Snead to resign for what they consider dishonest budget management and/or poor leadership. Trudy Haugen, who formerly worked as office manager for the MACRD, said Snead was disingenuous when presenting a salary study.

Earlier this year, at the request of then-board chair Diana Seibold, Snead reached out to Marcelle Sannen, of HR Answers, a private firm, for a salary report on similar positions. The first response, based on various job descriptions of duties Snead took over, came in with a midpoint of $105,719.  Snead then requested another study, noting that the executive director had absorbed three subordinate positions but also functions as the CEO. She asked that the study focus on the CEO duties rather than the subordinate duties. The subsequent report had a midpoint of $141,269.

Snead’s salary history with the MACRD is as follows: She was hired in 2021 for $106,999, opting out of benefits, on a three-year contract. Life insurance was added seven months later. In July 2023, she signed another three-year contract at the same $106,999 and continued to opt out of benefits. In October 2023, she agreed to a 10% salary reduction with an agreement with the board that her salary would be re-evaluated for the fiscal year 2024-25 budget. In July 2023, she was given a raise to $114,000, and she again opted out of getting benefits outside of life insurance. That remains her current salary.

More heated public comment 

During the July 21 meeting, another former employee, Chris Pine, who was dismissed as recreation coordinator, said to the board, “It’s your guys’ fault (the bond levies) didn’t pass.” He said he was asked to lie to the public when he was an employee. He also referred to a Facebook poll — and Snead and he board have regularly been the target of local social media — that he said had 200 people wanting them to resign and only two wanting them to stay.

“I question the ethics at the MAC,” said Pine. “I’m asking for resignations for all but Ervey (board member Ervey Dominguez). I want your resignations.”

Dominguez, who joined the board in 2024 after being a critic of the MACRD operations, was voted in as the new board chairman during the meeting, being nominated by Lewis and seconded by McCloskey, and he grudgingly accepted.

Local resident Carrie Graeme was very hard-hitting during public comment.

“What’s happening now … is a leadership issue,” said Graeme. “There’s a growing disconnect between the community and the executive director,” who has a “champagne wage on a beer budget.”

Regarding the board, Graeme said, “You have dropped the ball. You sit quietly while the executive director makes decisions for her own good. Silence, inaction … mismanagement.”

Unless asked a direct question about policy, neither the board nor Snead responded to the accusations and comments during the public comment session.

Brandie McNamee, a budget committee member from Antelope, Zoomed in and said she was disappointed in recent MACRD budgeting against actuals. She said that all of the revenue projections came up short this past year, with several hoped-for grants being included in expected revenue lines.

“It’s Oregon law that committees should not approve budgets unless realistic. As a taxpayer, I really want to see conservative budgeting,” said McNamee.

The MACRD audit will take place in the fall, noted Snead.

Susan Kavari, a Madras resident, also Zoomed into the meeting to talk about the $102,375 grant that the MACRD received to provide a clean air shelter plus be a warming and cooling shelter. She said the MACRD has not upheld its end of the grant. When her three-minute time limit expired, she pushed the board to approve her more time, but they refused to do so, asking that she submit her complaint via email. Lewis later said she’d look into the situation.

There were also multiple people who expressed concerned that their insurance company was continuing to pay for membership even though the pool was closed. Snead said later in the meeting that the MACRD had stopped billing insurances in mid-June.

Debbie Stinson questioned if the 509J School District is paying its way for the usage it gets. Snead noted that the district deposits $30,000 toward the MACRD for pool use every year, and this year they actually paid the MACRD $67,000 because of the many high school swim meets that were held in Madras. Stinson ended by saying, “Let’s find a way to open our publicly owned pool.”

Early during public comment, Penny Nelson, after pushing for the MACRD to continue to fund an exercise leader, said she was tired of the “very personal, local attacks” against Snead. “Madras doesn’t have many good things. We hope this infighting will cease.”

Early in the meeting, Jefferson County Clerk Kate Zemke swore in board members elected during the May balloting: Dominguez, Maynard and new board member Rebecca Blaho.

At the meeting’s end, new board chair Dominguez addressed those in attendance: “We want to keep our pool, save our pool.” To do so, he added, “We have to keep together.”