BANGOR – If the Friends of Dakin Pool can raise $2,300 to pay the salary of a pool attendant for the summer, the city will waive the fees it was planning to charge patrons.

That decision was made Tuesday at a meeting of the Bangor City Council’s Government Operations Committee.

Members of the friends group were not in attendance, but City Manager Edward Barrett said he has been in contact with them and that the issue likely will become final at the next City Council meeting on June 13.

“This is really a question of timing since the pool is scheduled to open on June 20,” Barrett said. “If we wanted to do something, it would have to come up at the June 13 [council] meeting.”

The friends group already has planned a fund-raiser, Barrett said, and as long as the city receives a donation of $2,300 by the time the pool opens, it will drop the fees.

The Dakin Pool, off Stillwater Avenue on Bangor’s east side, has been the subject of debate since it was saved from closure earlier this year.

The City Council, faced with an estimate that more than $300,000 would be needed to replace the bathhouse, considered closing the pool.

That decision prompted residents to form a nonprofit group to save the pool, and the city agreed to keep the facility open – at least for this summer – to see whether the need for the pool still exists.

So its future is safe – for now.

“We said that we would give this a try and that we wouldn’t shut it down right away,” City Council Chairman Frank Farrington said. “But there has to be a self-supporting feature [money and attendance]; we don’t want to string people along.”

The City Council also voted at an April meeting to adopt fees for the use of Dakin Pool, a decision that met some resistance. Councilors insisted it was merely a way to defray the cost of employing a pool attendant to count patrons.

“This was never a moneymaker,” Councilor Dan Tremble said.

Last summer, the Beth Pancoe Municipal Aquatic Center opened off Union Street, causing attendance at Dakin Pool to decline.

Even if the pool’s attendance increases this summer, the Friends of Dakin Pool will have to work with the city to determine how to pay for renovations to the bathhouse should the pool stay open beyond this year.

In other news, the Government Operations Committee recommended to the City Council an amendment to the city’s ordinance regarding taxicabs.

Under the change, potential taxi drivers would be subjected to a state background check for a nonrefundable fee of $25, in addition to the $30 fee for a taxi license.

Drivers previously were subjected only to a local background check, which sometimes didn’t catch all offenses.

Mike Cooper, who owns Town Taxi, said the state background check is a good idea and having the city require it would save him money.

The City Council will vote on the amendment at its June 13 meeting.