News

END OF AN ERA?

Posted July 16, 2014 11:00 pm

BY PETE SPITLER The Herald Tribune

CHESTER -- Crumbling concrete, water stains next to electrical boxes and corrosion caused from decades of chlorine and other chemical use.

The Chester Municipal Pool faces a number of safety challenges if it is to reopen, and the city is awaiting results from a fresh round of inspections before proceeding further.

"The last thing in the world I ever wanted to do was close this swimming pool," said Chester Mayor Tom Page. "People need to see, obviously, what we're dealing with.

"There are people out there saying 'Mayor, if you knew it was broken, why didn't you fix it?' Well, we're talking major expenditures here."

Page and Chester Parks Superintendent Kevin Diercks gave the Herald Tribune an extensive tour of the pool on July 9.

This reporter saw firsthand evidence of the toll 72 years of use has had on the facility after the pool officially opened to the public on May 30, 1942.

"We're talking big, big problems that we knew, at some time, were going to happen 75 years later," Page said. "I'm taking a serious look at our options. We've got a group doing a study and analysis of the pool and we'll go from there."

Burbach Aquatics Inc., out of Platteville, Wisc., could be conducting a 32-point inspection this week, but the city is also at the mercy of the company's schedule.

"We had a face-to-face meeting with a representative from Burbach," Page said. "We're hoping for an inspection this week."

The Chester City Council recently appropriated an additional $20,000 toward its building supplies and repairs fund that will help cover the cost of the inspection.

Page said he is waiting for a quote from Burbach on the price of the inspection.

"We are awaiting the price of the inspection and I'll take it before the city's aldermen during our next city council meeting," Page said. "But that won't slow down the process at all."

The next meeting of the Chester City Council is scheduled for July 21.

Chester City Council Alderman Robert Platt told the city's Parks and Recreation Board during the board's July 8 meeting that Burbach Aquatics had been the company working on the proposed aquatics park at the Cohen Complex.

The company's website said its mission is "to revolutionize the community swimming pool from a low-priority municipal service into the mainstream social and recreational solution for community involvement."

"The decision to close the pool was made directly by the mayor," Platt said to the board. "I think it was a safety issue and had more to do with the electrical-water situation with electrocution possibility than anything else.

"In general, with all the things that were going on, a decision was made that it would be prudent to get this inspection done before something bad happened."

Built for $50,000 from 1939 to 1941, the pool was one of 27 such facilities constructed by the Works Progress Administration in the state.

Diercks said it takes 500,000 gallons of water to fill the pool, but close to three million gallons have been lost to leaks over the past month and a half.

"We are taking a close look to see if this is even repairable at this point in time," Page said.

CHANGING TIMES:

The facility went through a series of alterations in the mid-1990s, when both slides were removed and the baby pool was closed.

The metal rail that separates the deep end from the shallow end was installed during that timeframe.

Diercks said he removed the pool's metal slide in 1995 due to deterioration and removed the other, made of fiberglass, in 1997.

"Companies do not sell that kind of equipment to municipalities for a pool that is shaped like ours," Diercks said. "Nobody neglected not to put them back. Everybody - including myself - did everything in their power to buy something to put in there and (companies) won't sell it."

The baby pool, located between the concession stand and the main pool, now has weeds growing out of its drain.

The pool's 10-foot diving board was the next feature to be removed, and was done so in 2012 due to liability reasons.

Platt told the park board that inspectors will focusing on the bowl, deck, plumbing and electrical features of the facility.

J.T. Blankenship Inc., the city's engineering firm, last conducted an inspection of the pool in 2003, according to Page.

"Every year, we get inspected by the state health department and they can be difficult to deal with," Diercks said. "They're not trying to shut you down, but they're doing their job to keep things safe with the quality of water.

"From when it was built in 1939 to now, keeping the circulation and chemicals within (the health department's) codes has been very, very tough."

Diercks said he and City of Chester employees have been patching the pool for close to 20 years.

"I'm 57 and I took my swimming lessons there," Diercks said. "When I was a kid, there would be 300 kids in there and two weeks ago at 2:30 p.m. when the weather was hot?

"Maybe 10 kids."

SWIM TEAMS ADJUSTING

Now technically homeless, the Chester Stingrays swim teams are practicing at the Perryville Park Center - a 15-mile drive away in Missouri.

Chester Recreation Director Patti Carter said the Park Center has been gracious enough to accommodate the swim teams.

"They are allowing them to come over there and practice and I believe it's free of charge," Carter said. "They're making the best of a bad situation."

ALL OPTIONS OPEN

Repair, renovation or replacement of the pool are some of the options being considered by city leaders.

"All options will be explored once the inspection comes back," Page said. "There's nothing that won't be considered.

"From repairing the pool or putting another pool there, I can't really comment further until I get the results."

QUESTIONS STILL UNANSWERED

With millions of gallons of water loss, one of the big questions Page has is where the water is going.

That answer will likely not be answered until Burbach's inspection.

"I'm very interested to know if there's a void under the pool," Page said. "It's hard to lose that much water without it going somewhere."

WEATHER PLAYS A PART

Mid-July is traditionally one of the hottest times of year for Southern Illinois, and this past weekend was a teaser, but unseasonably cool temperatures will dominate for much of this week.

Today's forecasted high of 79 degrees is 12 degrees below the historical average for this time of year, according to AccuWeather.com.

That's good news for city residents waiting for an outcome on the pool.

"The pattern is reminiscent of a major polar plunge that occurred this past winter, referred to as the Polar Vortex," said AccuWeather Meteorologist Carl Erickson.

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