Ed's. note: For the past week, our Political Whore blog has been running previews of the best civic projects in the U.S. in advance of the National Civic League's All-America City Awards conference coming to Tampa June 16-19. Thirty cities, including Tampa, will vie for the award. Here's one city's nominated project:

By Matt Wiley

CL intern

This afternoon’s featured community in the National Civic League’s 2009 All-America City Awards (the conference convenes in Tampa next week) is Belton, Mo.:

Belton, Missouri

Belton's Indoor Aquatic Center

The city of Belton had long needed a swimming pool to replace its aging outdoor facility. The city also knew the community wanted an indoor facility that could be used year-round. Additionally, the Belton School District had sponsored swim teams for more than 20 years, but has never had local facilities at its disposal. The park department and school district began discussions on how they could work together to meet the needs of the community and students. After several meetings, representatives of the Belton School District and the Belton Park Department signed a memorandum of understanding on March 27, 2006, that set the stage for an indoor aquatic center in Belton. The agreement provides the park department with the additional operating revenue it needs to make the indoor facility possible. At the same time, the agreement allows the school district to be a preferred user of the facility. After many years of planning and negotiation, the aquatic center was officially opened on December 29, 2008. This project brought people together to find solutions for both the school district and the community at large.

Thirty cities, towns, neighborhoods and communities are vying for recognition as an All-America City at the June 16-18 conference at the Tampa Marriott Waterside Hotel. Each will give a short presentation on three public-private civic projects they undertook before a panel of judges names the best. Tampa is one of the finalists.

Former Tampa Mayor Sandy Freedman is the president of the National Civic League this year and a big proponent of these kinds of partnership projects. During her tenure, in 1990, Tampa was named an All-America City. Creative Loafing CEO Ben Eason is also involved, as a member of the Host Committee.

This article appears in Jun 10-16, 2009.