By Brandy Calvert/Senior Staff Writer

MIDDLESBORO — The Middlesboro City Pool is open for swimmers seeking to take a dip — starting today — and the new slide is creating quite a splash with pool patrons.

During the Middlesboro City Council meeting on Thursday, it was announced that the new slide cost approximately $25,000 and was paid for with Coal Severance tax dollars. Admission to the pool will be free this year, as it has been for several years.

The general consensus among councilmen is that the pool becomes more and more family-friendly and family-oriented, year after year. It was mentioned during the meeting that Bell-Whitley Community Action Agency, Inc. will again be administering free lunches at the pool this year. That program begins on June 3.

The council approved all of the items on the agenda during the brief council meeting, which took place on Thursday instead of Tuesday, due to the Election. The council approved the following items:

April 2008 city fire reports and police reports.

The minutes of the regular meeting held on Tuesday, May 6.

The refund of an occupational tax in the amount of $1,232.71 to the Pilot Corporation.

The refund of a 2006 license fee to Community Trust Bank in the amount of $485.

Discover Downtown Middlesboro President Kevin Murphy was in attendance and informed the council that the organization received $30,000 from the C.I.T.Y. program for downtown revitalization, although the group requested $100,000. He thanked Councilman Robert Lincks and Councilwoman Evelyn Farmer for attending the award presentation dinner in Somerset, Ky., earlier in the month.

Absent from the City Council meeting on Thursday were Councilman Robert Lincks and Councilman Hank Barnes.

Brandy Calvert is the Senior Staff Writer for the Middlesboro Daily News. Contact her via e-mail at bmurray@middlesborodailynews.com.