Cheltenham Terminates Melrose Pool No-Bid Contract

CHELTENHAM TOWNSHIP, PA — It's back to the drawing board after the Cheltenham Commissioners voted on Monday to pull the plug on the Melrose Pool project following a lawsuit.

"I applaud the Cheltenham Commissioners' decision this evening to terminate the illegal no-bid Melrose Pool contract," said Samuel Thacker, who filed a lawsuit in August over the unbid Melrose Pool project in which he received over 300 signatures of support against it.

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"Hundreds of residents over the past few months have put a lot of time, energy, and hard-earned money into demanding accountability and transparency from our elected officials, and it's a major victory to have stopped the no-bid deal," Thacker said. "If only they had listened sooner, it could have saved us all the trouble."

The lawsuit stated that the township had a direct contradiction between municipal construction and real estate leases, failed to comply with Home Rule Charter mandates, and has an unfunded $4.5 million financial obligation.

With the board's decision, Thacker hopes that residents will be allowed to become part of the process.

"After this no-bid fiasco, we cannot take the Board at their word when they say that Melrose is the right path," he said. "So it's even more essential that they allow residents into the decision now that we're starting fresh."

Starting fresh involves decisions over the Melrose and Conklin pools.

Some residents and officials favor a new Melrose Pool while others want a new Conklin Pool.

At a recent meeting, Commissioner Emily Cheramie Walz shared her comments about the project and lawsuit.

"I felt it was important to speak honestly about where we are with Conklin and the Melrose pool projects," Walz said. "There is no conspiracy to screw over taxpayers. There is no group of Commissioners sitting around gleefully deciding to take away something people love. And the suggestion that we never considered rebuilding Conklin is simply not true. We have provided the facts. We have answered the questions. The information is available to anyone who wants to look at it."

Thacker said that the commissioners, in backing out of contract reaffirmed their commitment to finding a way to build a new pool at the Melrose Country Club.

He said the decision to close Conklin Pool was made out of public sight.

In 2024, the Board adopted Hybrid Facilities Plan E, which involved rebuilding at Conklin. This plan was the product of a year of public deliberation and over $100,000 in taxpayer dollars to cover consultants' costs, Thacker said.

"Why would we throw that plan in the trash, when it was clearly an expression of township residents' will?" he added. There is no way that rebuilding at Conklin should be out of consideration."

Thacker said that many residents, including him, want a new pool at the current Conklin site.

"If Melrose is such a great deal, get bids for both projects and bring them before the public," he said. "Keep Conklin open next year and build a new pool for 2028."

Walz said that the township determined that continuing to operate Conklin as it currently exists is not financially sustainable.

"We are open to discussing a different future for the property—whether that means repurposing it or transferring it to a community group or another organization that can demonstrate a sustainable plan," Walz said.

Walz said that deciding on a pool project is important for residents for many reasons:

• Families are excited about having a new pool
• Kids learn to swim in township pools
• Seniors and residents with disabilities would have access to a new, accessible facility
• The swim team will benefit from a new pool facility that meets their swim meet needs
• Many residents depend on public recreation facilities during increasingly hot summers

"We all want a state-of-the-art replacement pool," Thacker said. "The path forward should not be the Board stubbornly doubling down even further on a contentious plan never endorsed by residents. The way to build the trust that they seem to think they're entitled to is by showing residents that they respect their opinions and take their representative role seriously."

"I believe Cheltenham is better than a community where disagreement automatically becomes accusations of corruption, conspiracy, and bad faith," Walz said. "I ran for office because I believe we should strive to be better than that. We are your neighbors. We use the pools, schools, and services just like you do. We pay the same taxes. None of us ran for office to climb a political ladder. We ran because we love Cheltenham. We want Cheltenham to be better and we are here doing the hard work every single day to make it so."