by John Dowd
“The Stevensville pool will open!” exclaimed Stephen Lassiter, Stevensville Parks Director. He, among others, have heard rumors that he immediately wanted to dispel. The rumors, not completely unfounded, arose during a nearly $23,000 project to update the town pool and bring it back up to code.
According to Lassiter, the pool ended up becoming a two-phase project. The first of the two started with the pool filtration. Not replaced since the 1950’s, Lassiter said the pumps were underperforming, meaning the town would need to upgrade the antiquated system because the town pool did not meet the state regulated water turn-over rate. They ordered two brand new sand filters to replace the old one, and are improving the system’s efficiency. To improve efficiency, the town is working to eliminate any unnecessary piping and elbows, reducing drag in the system. This first expected phase is being done with the use of the Jean Thomas Park Beautification Fund, which was left to the town to help improve the parks.
The second part of the project came as an unexpected shock to the town Parks Department. After the snow and ice melted, Lassiter and others discovered the rim of the pool was completely falling apart. He explained that it was apparently a bad year for concrete all over town. The problem was compounded due to the history of patching the pool rim over time, because there was never enough funds to completely redo the rim. Lassiter saw to the rim being removed and had a contractor come out and cut down eight inches to good concrete. Another contractor will be coming out to repair the rim.
“The concrete was a complete surprise to us,” said Lassiter. The unexpected cost is being funded by a grant from the Rapp Family Foundation and another from the Stevensville Community Foundation.
Even after both grants, Lassiter said the Town will still come up roughly $2,000 short. However, he also explained that through some potential private donations from area businesses, his “hope is to complete this whole project without using any taxpayer dollars.”
“It was a blessing,” said Lassiter. “There’s some good people here.”
Lassiter also praised the local contractors, who he said gave the town the best deals they could and shuffled their schedules around to be there to help. “They want to see this happen too. They live here too,” said Lassiter. The town also saved money by the Parks Department doing much of the cleanup process along the way.
The Town’s goal is to open the pool in June. Traditionally, the pool has opened after the school graduation, which this year would have the opening fall on June 12. However, this will not be possible, explained Lassiter. He said it will likely be late June that the gates open to the public for the summer.
The Town also held a council meeting early in June to vote to raise pool fees. Lassiter said this is not related to the costs to repair the pool, which by then were already under way. This will be the first fee increase in 10 years, and will only be a dollar more than the existing entry fee. Lassiter said it was necessary because “wages are going up and so is chlorine,” though he said he does not like the fee increase either, but times are changing.