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MAST moving forward after council approval
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MONROE - Monroe Area Swim Team, Inc. (MAST) is officially on its way to a 2012 season and beyond.

The Monroe Common Council stamped the final approval on a facility agreement with the group Tuesday, making way for the group to use of the municipal swimming pool and concession stand in Recreation Park for 2012.

After MAST nearly disbanding in early January, board member Anna Nesbitt appeared before the city's Board of Park and Recreation Commissioners Wednesday, Jan. 18, to report the group had elected a full nine-member board, and was ready to sign a new lease agreement and a financial letter of intent with the city.

The letter of intent, requested by MAST, requires the group and its future boards to raise $10,000 toward the cost of reconfiguring the city pool, payable over a period of five years. The decision to reconfigure the lanes came after a MAST swimmer broke a vertebra diving from the starting blocks during a practice last summer.

The city has set aside $17,000 in its 2012 budget to position swim lanes perpendicular to their present positions, with the understanding that MAST would donate to the project.

The Board of Commissioners approved the lease to be sent to the city's Public Property Committee, where it passed unanimously Tuesday and forwarded to the council.

The board is also sending to council a recommendation to proceed with engineering designs for the pool to meet ADA requirements, for $1,200, as well as the lane changes, for $1,400.

- Tere Dunlap