Cleaning out the pool shed

CELINA - The city is now in possession of most of the items required to conduct a swim meet at Bryson pool, coming close to resolving at least one issue of contention between a pair of swim teams formed in the wake of what was by all public accounts an acrimonious schism.

For decades, the Celina summer swim and dive program went under the name "Celina Dolphins." However, in the summer of 2024, the Dolphins did not field a team, and due to internal disagreements over governance, leadership and other issues, the program split into two camps - a new organization calling itself the Celina Sharks and another which continues to bear the moniker Celina Dolphins.

The Sharks this summer competed in the Tri-County League, along with the Coldwater Cudas, New Bremen Barracudas, St. Marys Seahawks and other teams.

City councilors over the course of a few meetings heard conflicting claims of what swim meet-related items belonged to which team.

The Celina VFW stepped in this summer to donate $6,256.28 to the Celina Sharks to purchase eight lane lines, 16 lane line extenders and one used lane line reel, councilors learned during their regular meeting Monday night.

"The city's never had lane lines, technically," said city safety service director Tom Hitchcock. "The other lane lines were the Dolphins' lane lines, who would not allow the Sharks to use them."

The Sharks proceeded to acquire the donation from the Celina VFW, enabling them to purchase lane lines for swim meets this summer, Hitchcock said.

"They're now donating those lines to the city," he added.

Councilors then passed first reading of legislation to accept the donation of the lane lines and ancillary equipment from the Sharks and direct city auditor Brooke Shinn to memo post the amount of $6,256.68.

Councilman Thomas Sanford abstained from the vote, citing "family involvement."

Celina Mayor Jeff Hazel thanked the Celina VFW for their donation to the Sharks and made clear that no cash amount would be appropriated through the eventual enactment of the ordinance.

"There's no cash money being appropriated. It has to be done for memo posting because the value has to go on the books for assets," Hazel explained. "That's something that we've done before; when we get a gift, somebody builds something or donates a piece of equipment, we have to memo post that amount because that has to show up for insurance purposes."

Councilman Joe Wolfe welcomed the legislation.

"I think it's important that we continue this, so we don't have the issues that we had this spring, with having two different groups, and everybody taking claim to product that (needs to) be donated to the city," Wolfe said. "If we have an issue down the road … it is city equipment, and we won't have the issue that we had this spring."

Both swim teams were asked to remove all private property from a city building at the pool by Aug. 15.

"That way, any donations, we're going to use that building now to just store what any swim team can use, instead of just having it just as private people's stuff in there," Hitchcock said.

"Thank you for cleaning out the shed," replied councilman Myron Buxton. "That'll take a lot of headaches away, I think."

Asked if any other equipment is needed to enable any swim team to host a swim meet, Hitchcock said there's still the issue of backstroke poles.

"We will now have the timing system, lane lines and the starting blocks," Hitchcock noted. "The backstroke poles that was the point of contention still appears to be owned by the Dolphins at this time."

Wolfe asked if the backstroke poles could be included in next year's budget.

"It's not something for the operation of the pools for the children that we are suppose to operate for. It is purely just for the swim teams," Hitchcock said in reference to the purpose of the Bryson Trust Fund, which bankrolled the pool. "That would be a council decision during budget process time."

Upon his death on Jan. 11, 1950, Ed Bryson left part of his estate to what was then the Commercial Bank of Celina "for the use and benefit of the public playgrounds in Mercelina Park, Celina, Ohio, or to assist in the construction of a public swimming pool by said city."

Through court approval, the intent of Bryson's charity was expanded to include all city recreational facilities.

In other proceedings, council president Jason King opened the meeting by holding a moment of silence for Craig Klopfleisch, a one-time Celina mayor who died on Aug. 3 from lung cancer.

Klopfleisch, a Democrat, served as Celina's mayor from 1995 to 2000, during which time the city saw the creation of the Bryson Pool, the acquisition of additional property and the addition of an ozone system that took care of the odor in the drinking water, he told the newspaper in a 2011 interview.

He also served on the Mercer County Board of Elections from 2015 to 2025.

"Dear God, we just ask that you would be with Craig's family during this time of loss and adjustment," King said during a prayer. "He fought a brave battle … against a disease that has taken so many lives and has touched all of us in some way, and we just pray that You'd comfort them in this time of sorrow and sadness, and we thank you for his years of service to the community."