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Editor's note: This story is the first in a series that will run each Tuesday covering the issues surrounding the proposed recreation center ballot question.

The benefits of a recreation center will be far reaching and span all age groups, proponents of the facility say. They will ease the burden on current facilities and enhance opportunities with new activities.

It's time for a recreation center, Moffat County High School Athletic Director Jim Loughran said.

Loughran said the Moffat County High School gymnasium is booked solid.

"Just between our teams it gets unbelievable use," he said.

There's not an open date on the schedule now, he said, and that level of use continues into the summer months for parks and recreation programs, youth athletic camps and early practices for fall sports.

Loughran, who books time in the Craig Middle School gymnasium for the spillover from the high school gym, said it's hard to get time there, too, between CMS sports, AAU sports and parks and recreation programs.

"People say we have enough, but we don't," he said. "Gymnasium space is at a premium. I couldn't even tell you the pressure a recreation center would release from our gyms and our schools."

The gyms at the high school and middle school aren't the only ones pressured for use. Jim Rugh, principal of Sunset Elementary School, said that school's gym is booked nearly every night of the week.

"We have to turn people away because of use here," he said.

The citizen-proposed recreation center -- the funding for which Craig voters will be asked to approve Nov. 4 -- will include two 42' by 70' courts. It will also include a 6-lane, 25-yard lap pool, which may be just in time.

According to Loughran, the 20-year-old Moffat County High School pool is on its last leg. And for a school district that's already burdened with nearly $70,000 a year in operation and maintenance costs, reconstruction costs are nearly unthinkable.

According to Rugh, the pool has already outlived its projected life.

"We're concerned that it's going to give and it will be very expensive to replace," Loughran said. "If it ever goes, I don't think the school district has the money to go in and replace it."

The loss of the high school pool would affect both girls and boys swim teams -- a combined 60 students -- as well as parks and recreation program participants, evening lap swimmers and swimnastics classes and elementary school students who spend two weeks a year learning to swim at the pool.

"It would affect a lot of programs," Loughran said.

It would also affect the nearly 70 participants of the Craig Sea Sharks summer swimming program, who start their practices in the high school pool while waiting for the city pool to open. And, despite that opportunity, the Sea Sharks begin their season more than a month late while waiting for the high school pool to become available.

Having an indoor pool would greatly benefit the team, said Sea Sharks coach Tammy Workman.

"We'd be able to start when our season starts," she said.

Participants would also get to make to most of the season. Now, those 70 swimmers crowd into the city pool for an hour and a half -- the longest the pool is available.

"It's so jammed in there, you can't move," Workman said.

That cuts the practice time for each age group nearly in half, she said.

Being able to practice in a recreation center would provide the added benefit of giving participants access to safer "dryland conditioning" equipment. Instead of exercising on the wet concrete next to the pool, swimmers could take advantage of the facility's two-lane suspended walking track, its proposed 42-station weight room or its aerobic room.

Should voters approve the construction of a recreation center, it would also benefit members of Trapper Health Club, said Workman, who also works there and teaches aerobic classes.

If the recreation center is approved, the equipment and personnel from the health club will be moved to the new center and the building -- already full -- will be used as additional classroom space for Colorado Northwestern Community College.

Workman said a new recreation center would ease the wait for some equipment -- particularly the cardiovascular equipment -- that at peak hours is in high demand.

It would also ease the burden to the college, which pays three people's salaries and all of the operation and maintenance costs to keep the club open.

CNCC, which donated approximately 12 acres for the construction of a recreation center and has pledged to pay half the cost of getting utilities to the site, also hopes to benefit from a recreation center in expanded programs. Not only physical education, but also intramural activities, Craig campus Vice President Dean Hollenbeck said.

He hopes to use the proposed 6-point indoor shooting range to the college's advantage in expanding its criminal justice program.

"We're excited, we're hopeful, this will pass," Hollenbeck said.

The passage of the recreation center ballot question could also mean bigger things in the college's future. The shared resources and shared costs will give the college a leg up in its request to the state to fund the construction of campus buildings, sorely needed already for a college whose classes are spread across the city because of lack of space.

Hollenbeck, also the father of two, said a recreation center is much needed in this community.

"This isn't just for kids, this is for adults. This is for everyone," he said.

Hollenbeck isn't the only one who supports the facility.

"If you want my vote, I want that rec center," Loughran said. "It would be a great benefit for all people and could be a real plus for our seniors.

"It would be a tremendous asset to the community," he added. "When it comes to paying money for kids, I don't think you can put a limit on that amount. I'd pay $50 bucks a month if that would give our kids something to do."

The ballot question is referendum 2A.

The recreation center would be paid for by a half-cent sales tax increase and the implementation of a 2.75 percent use tax. The sales tax would sunset when the recreation center is paid for -- an estimated 25 years. And the use tax will be reduced to 2.5 percent and would continue to offset the facility's operation and maintenance costs.

It has been estimated that a half cent sales tax would cost the average person $12 a year.

Christina M. Currie can be reached at 824-7031, Ext. 210 or by e-mail at ccurrie@craigdailypress.com.