City ponders fate of Kurt Beyer Pool
NORWICH – With the kick-off of summer less than a month away, Norwich City officials still aren’t sure that the Kurt Beyer Pool in Rotary Park will be open this season.
The pool is in need of repairs that could cost tens of thousands of dollars – money that the Common Council says may extensively exhaust the city’s budget.
City DPW Superintendent Carl Ivarson explained some of the city’s repair options at a meeting of the Joint Committees earlier this month. The lining of the inside of the pool is cracked, he said, causing water to seep behind the walls which could lead to further damage down the road.
Ivarson said although the city has the $16,000 to $20,000 in reserves to make a temporary fix in time for summer, it would deplete nearly half the city’s reserve account.
Estimates for a long-term fix are even more costly – roughly $40,000 to $60,000 for a new pool lining that would last the next 20 years.
So the question now is, is a band-aid fix worth the cost? And if not, will the city invest in long-term repairs?
“It’s a frustrating thing,” said Ward Two Alderman Brian Doliver. “The pool is incredibly popular and it’s obviously used. It’s just a very expensive endeavor to have it open for just six weeks.”
The Norwich Common Council faced a similar issue in 2012, when the pool required renovations to the tune of more than $250,000. Repairs were ultimately made possible through a series of grants from the Greater Norwich Foundation, the RC Smith Foundation, and the Roger Follett Foundation, each of which kicked-in $40,000. Remaining costs were met using money from the city’s reserve accounts. The crisis at the time did, however, spark debate over whether the city should impose a pool user fee and what steps ought to be taken to prevent similar financial circumstances in the future.
“Every eight to ten years, we seem to be sinking a lot of money into it,” said Ward Four Alderman Walter Schermerhorn.
At the present, the city also has to consider that even if repairs were made, there’s currently no personnel to operate the pool. The job to maintain the pool warrants availability of someone to check pH levels on a daily basis. And that means being in town every day over the course of the summer, said Ivarson. Due to budget restraints, the person who held the position in previous years has been cut from the DPW staff, and Ivarson said it may be difficult to find someone else to commit.
On the brighter side, the city may have the option to work with the Norwich High School which it’s done in the past. Swim lessons, competitions, and free swim could all be held at the high school pool for a charge to the city and with the cooperation of the district. But the last time the city did that, attendance was down, said Norwich Youth Bureau Director Robert Mason.
“For free swim especially, it wasn’t cost effective,” Mason said. “The public just wasn’t interested in going.”
What’s more, if the city were to contract with the high school, the pool would be unavailable for two weeks this summer because the school’s hosting another year of the Greater Chenango Cares Innovative Readiness Training (IRT), an initiative that brings hundreds of military personnel to the high school to provide no-cost health care services to area residents. That’s slated to happen in mid-July.
A total 11,642 people used the Kurt Beyer Pool in the two months that it was open in 2015, and more than 9,600 used it the year prior. The pool averages between 9,000 and 10,000 users every year.
The pool is in need of repairs that could cost tens of thousands of dollars – money that the Common Council says may extensively exhaust the city’s budget.
City DPW Superintendent Carl Ivarson explained some of the city’s repair options at a meeting of the Joint Committees earlier this month. The lining of the inside of the pool is cracked, he said, causing water to seep behind the walls which could lead to further damage down the road.
Ivarson said although the city has the $16,000 to $20,000 in reserves to make a temporary fix in time for summer, it would deplete nearly half the city’s reserve account.
Estimates for a long-term fix are even more costly – roughly $40,000 to $60,000 for a new pool lining that would last the next 20 years.
So the question now is, is a band-aid fix worth the cost? And if not, will the city invest in long-term repairs?
“It’s a frustrating thing,” said Ward Two Alderman Brian Doliver. “The pool is incredibly popular and it’s obviously used. It’s just a very expensive endeavor to have it open for just six weeks.”
The Norwich Common Council faced a similar issue in 2012, when the pool required renovations to the tune of more than $250,000. Repairs were ultimately made possible through a series of grants from the Greater Norwich Foundation, the RC Smith Foundation, and the Roger Follett Foundation, each of which kicked-in $40,000. Remaining costs were met using money from the city’s reserve accounts. The crisis at the time did, however, spark debate over whether the city should impose a pool user fee and what steps ought to be taken to prevent similar financial circumstances in the future.
“Every eight to ten years, we seem to be sinking a lot of money into it,” said Ward Four Alderman Walter Schermerhorn.
At the present, the city also has to consider that even if repairs were made, there’s currently no personnel to operate the pool. The job to maintain the pool warrants availability of someone to check pH levels on a daily basis. And that means being in town every day over the course of the summer, said Ivarson. Due to budget restraints, the person who held the position in previous years has been cut from the DPW staff, and Ivarson said it may be difficult to find someone else to commit.
On the brighter side, the city may have the option to work with the Norwich High School which it’s done in the past. Swim lessons, competitions, and free swim could all be held at the high school pool for a charge to the city and with the cooperation of the district. But the last time the city did that, attendance was down, said Norwich Youth Bureau Director Robert Mason.
“For free swim especially, it wasn’t cost effective,” Mason said. “The public just wasn’t interested in going.”
What’s more, if the city were to contract with the high school, the pool would be unavailable for two weeks this summer because the school’s hosting another year of the Greater Chenango Cares Innovative Readiness Training (IRT), an initiative that brings hundreds of military personnel to the high school to provide no-cost health care services to area residents. That’s slated to happen in mid-July.
A total 11,642 people used the Kurt Beyer Pool in the two months that it was open in 2015, and more than 9,600 used it the year prior. The pool averages between 9,000 and 10,000 users every year.
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