The fish slide and the town council's decision

After reading in the Weekly News about the La Conner Town Council’s decision to destroy the fish slide in Conner Waterfront Park due to money issues and other things, I have some questions. As I’m involved, of course I have some thoughts.

The only real money the Town has spent so far was to hire renowned local artist/sculptor Tom Jay to design and build the slide, since then the monies spent were on some grinding wheels, epoxy-like material and paint used by John Doyle and myself, volunteering to maintain the slide and keep it looking good.

Yes, we did work on the fish every year to keep it safe and looking good until about a year ago, when we found some issues and shut the slide down. We then asked the Town for some professional help to look the sculpture over and give us their opinion, as to what to do and how to do it, or maybe staff could do it. The council has made their decision.

The parks commission’s job is to advise the mayor, town administrator and the town council about parks and any issues, so here are my thoughts. Have us, the volunteers, continue in our task to keep the slide active by bringing in an advisor who can make sure we have the correct materials and advise us how to handle them. If this cannot be done, then plug both ends of the fish and maintain it as an art sculpture along with the other local artwork in the park.

I will be at the next council meeting to discuss this with them.

Ollie Iversen

La Conner Parks Commissioner