Spanish Fort city leaders continued to discuss what options they would like to see move forward with possible new construction for athletic facilities at Spanish Fort High during their last work session, with some council members continuing to question the amount the city is considering spending.

Spanish Fort High School principal Brian Williamson came to the meeting to help explain the current expansion of the school’s gymnasium, something he said needed to be done to keep up with the school’s growth in enrollment numbers.

The school’s current gym holds around 600 people, but the school currently has around 1,100 students enrolled.

“It’s absolutely jam packed, so the purpose of this gym is just to fit everyone we have,” Williamson said. “The seating arrangement will be somewhere around 1,200.”

Williamson said because of the increasing number of students coming into the school, the growth would continue to be something that will have to be addressed.

“Our facilities right now, the majority seem like they were built based on the size back in 2007 and 2008,” Williamson said. “We have seen a very aggressive growth in our athletic program. We’re outgrowing everything we have. People are coming to our school to participate in our athletics programs. It’s a wonderful problems to have, but we have to be able to fit everybody.”

The proposal currently before the council asks for the city’s help in constructing a potential new concession building, restrooms and a girls’ field house.

Councilman J.R. Smith said he would like to see the school try to help share in the costs of those projects.

“I’m trying to be a good steward of all the citizens of Spanish Fort,” Smith said. “If I was to vote possibly to build something, I’d like to see the school’s athletic department share some of that cost. I want to see some give and take on both sides.”

Williamson said raising funds can be difficult for the school.

“Having the capability to go out and raise those kinds of funds is very challenging for us,” Williamson said. “We have so many different groups that are out fundraising throughout our community. We don’t do a whole lot at the school level for the general fund because we’ve got sports, clubs and other organizations out raising money for their particular needs.”

All in, the city’s costs for the projects could be upwards of $800,000, an amount that several council members seemed to take issue with.

“No one is talking about the pink elephant in the room and that’s 10 percent of the city’s budget in one lick,” Councilman Bill Menas said. “How in the world do we talk to our constituents about why they waited on their drainage projects and roads because we worked on this?”

Means said he was completely supportive of the athletics programs, but cautioned the other council members on whether the city should be funding the complete construction request.

“There has got to be a way we can do this without dinging our budget,” Menas said. “There’s just a lot of money going into athletics here, and this just needs to make sense in my head.”

Councilwoman Mary Brabner asked if the school had considered asking parents to help out with some of the construction and labor to help bring down costs.

“If the families have some skin in the game, they will take pride and ownership in that,” Brabner said. “If we continue to hand it to them, we’re putting money on someone else’s balance sheet.”

Williamson said if he had to prioritize construction needs at the school, the restrooms and the girls’ field house would top the list.

“I’d list those as 1A and 1B,” Williamson said. “That’s the way I see it. The restrooms and the girls’ field house are just necessities.”

The council said they would continue to study the matter further.