Fill 'er up
Hartley's swimming pool to open, eventually
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SENTINEL-NEWS FILE PHOTO
Hartley's swimming pool needs several small-to-medium size repairs before it can open this year. It's been closed due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Pending several repairs, Hartley's swimming pool will open in a limited capacity this summer for lap swimming and lessons.
The city council last week voted to open the pool once the repairs are completed. According to Public Works Director Jaron Benz, several small-to-medium fixes are needed before local residents can take a dip.
"At this point it's hard to estimate. Some of the stuff we'll have to outsource," Benz told the council. "I don't think there's going to be a lot of cost in some of it, it's just a lot of labor."
The list includes replacing fiberglass in the filters, removing rust from the slide, repairing a crack in the south wall of the guardhouse, fixing shower heads and toilets, cement work on gutters, patching holes in the floors and walls of the pool, and rebuilding and repairing parts of the gutter in the deep end's side wall. The heater will likely need to be replaced as well.
Benz said cost of the repairs is "highly variable" since he doesn't know whether the heater can be fixed or if it will need to be completely replaced.
"We will probably be at minimum $500-$1,000 on the base repairs and with all the patches in the walls and floor, we will have to paint again which will be around $2,600," he said after the meeting. "If the heater isn't able to be fixed they are $4,000-plus new."
SENTINEL-NEWS FILE PHOTO
A swimmer does a belly flop off the diving board at the Hartley swimming pool in June of 2018.
The council instructed Benz to proceed with repairs. Once the pool does open, restrictions will be placed on its use. Gov. Kim Reynolds has ordered that only lap swimming and lessons be allowed at aquatic centers due to the threat of COVID-19. However, that order is set to expire June 17.
"It's better to be proactive than have the governor open things up and not be ready to go," said Council Member Jerry Olson.
If the pool does open to residents beyond lap swimming and lessons, Council Member Mary Westphalen said it's parents' responsibility to decide if they want their children taking the plunge during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"People have different perspectives," she said. "There's going to be moms and fathers that don't allow their kids to go swimming, and we just have to respect that."
