Pool overhaul OK’d

Presented with either rehabilitating just the concrete deck of its swimming pool or the entire structure, the Vandalia Park District Board of Trustees chose the latter.

Park trustees voted unanimously at a special meeting last Tuesday to proceed with a full-scale rehabilitation of the pool, which is estimated to cost about $1.2 million, with hopes of landing a grant to help pay for the project.
Scott Hunt and Randy Mitchell of Hurst-Roche Engineers explained the two options less than a week after district trustees chose that firm over John Crawford Engineers of Vandalia.
The board voted to go with Hurst-Roche after trustee Brian Stout explained that the Hillsboro firm’s bid for engineering pool improvements was 6 percent lower than that of Crawford’s.
Stout also told other trustees that in addition to submitting a lower bid, he wanted Hurst-Roche for the project because, “The pool experience of Hurst-Roche speaks volumes for me.”
At last week’s meeting, after Hunt explained the board’s options, trustees quickly began favoring, in Blythe’s words, a “complete overhaul” of the pool structure, which will include new concrete throughout as well as new plumbing and electrical.
“Somehow, I don’t think addressing (just) the concrete issue is the way to go,” Blythe said, asking Hunt how many years the new concrete should last.
The estimate for taking care of structural issues, replacing the deck and “anything that might be under there (the dec),” Hunt said, was just under $500,000.
Like Blythe, pool Manager Lisa Robbins supported a full rehabilitation of the pool structure.
“My biggest concern as a lifeguard and a manager is, if we don’t have a pool in our town, these kids will find a place to swim.
“They’ll go to ponds, they’ll go to the river, they’ll go to lake lots, and they’re going to be unsupervised.
“And we’re going to have drownings in our community that are unnecessary,” Robbins said.
The “modernization” plans presented by Hurst-Roche include new features, including a “zero entry” area and a water umbrella.
Robbins said that the “zero entry,” or “beach entry” will provide “a bigger space for children to play, and we can get more people in the pool.”
While that area will be beneficial for toddlers, Robbins said it will also “help with the handicapped. Actually, we’re killing two birds with one stone.”
Stout said that with the rehabilitation plan, “We’re going to be getting a lot of state-of-the-art features.”
He said the decision to spend that much money is a difficult one to make, but he feels it’s the right one.
“I just want everyone to know that making a decision like this, with our community size, I personally feel it’s imperative, it’s imperative to the health of the community,” he said.
“We have several beautiful parks, and I so often see small towns let facilities like this go,” Stout said.
When Hunt estimated the life of the new concrete at 30-40 years, trustee Steve Hawkins added, “The deck would have lasted longer if we would have maintained it.”
Mitchell told trustees, “After five years, you really need to take a hard look at budgeting for (maintenance) of the concrete joints … day-to-day things.”
Robbins said that a 1996 project to address problems with the deck included filling the cracks and applying the coating.
She said that the contractor told her that the district would need to go back every five years and apply a new coating.
“Nothing was done since 1996,” Robbins said.
As they talked about funding the work, Stout reminded trustees that then-president Chuck Hutson reported last August that he had confirmed that the park district can borrow up to $1.75 million.
Hutson said a bank official told him that a 10-year loan at current rates would result in annual payments of about $123,000.
Hunt and Mitchell told trustees that their firm would prepare applications for both a Park and Recreation Facility Construction grant and an OSLAD grant, both of which are administered by the state.
A PARC grant maximum is $2.5 million, while an OSLAD grant would provide up to $400,000.
If the district receives one of the grants, it no longer is eligible for the other, Hunt said.
Mitchell told trustees that going with a complete modernization of the pool “is a point in your favor” in applying for grants.
“You are taking some areas that are not compliant and making them ADA-compliant,” he said. “It will improve your chances of a grant.”
One of the requirements of the PARC grant, Hunt said, is that the district must approve a resolution “that you are capable of 100-percent funding” for the project.
With both grants, the district would be required to pay for the project, then be reimbursed by the state, he said.
Mitchell said it will take about nine months to complete the project, with the work to be done under a schedule that wouldn’t have the pool closed during its regular season.
If the district funds the project by itself, it could bid the project this fall, he said.
If it has to wait on a grant award, the bidding would be done in the fall of 2015.
Hawkins said he wants the district’s superintendent, Kent Torbeck, to be around when the work is done “so he knows what to do to maintain it. That’s been a failure in the past.”

Scott Hunt of Hurst-Roche Engineers, center, explains options for the Vandalia Municipal Swimming Pool to Vandalia Park District trustees. To the left of Hunt are Brian Stout and Steve Hawkins, and at right is Marj Blythe.