Leak at Holton's pool won't slow upcoming swim season

While Holton’s parks and recreation department looks toward Saturday’s grand opening of the Holton Municipal Swimming Pool, the department is also looking for a leak in the pool, the Holton City Commission learned on Monday.

Holton City Manager Bret Bauer said a possible leak has been located at the historic pool, which Bauer said is losing between an inch and an inch and a half of water a day, or as City Clerk Teresa Riley calculated, about 3,000 gallons a day. However, he also noted that there may be more than one cause of a leak, and the city may have to look at an increase in water and pool chemical costs for this year.

“This summer, I think we can get by, by limping along,” Bauer told commissioners. “But we’re going to need to discuss future options, what we want to do, and if we want to do anything.”

The pool itself, built in the 1930s as a WPA project, was last remodeled in 1986, commissioners noted, with some touch-up and paint work done along the way. Over time, parks and recreation employees have had to work on the pool’s stone bath house, which has been recognized as a historic structure.

Concerning the leak, Bauer said that the city’s water and wastewater department “might have found where some of the leak is coming from” in a 2 1/2-inch valve that was put in place with the 1986 remodel. A new valve has been ordered and will be installed, he added, but “we’re not 100 percent sure that’s where all the leak is coming from.”

There is a possibility that the leak’s origin is underneath the pool, as Water and Wastewater Superintendent Dennis Ashcraft has estimated, and if that is the case, Bauer said, “we’re going to have a problem.” The leak cannot be found near the top of the pool, he said, and with recent rains saturating the ground under and near the pool, it is hard to tell if there is a leak closer to the surface.

“We’re going to hope, pray and keep our fingers crossed that this valve is either the problem, or at least a majority of the problem,” Bauer told commissioners.

Holton Mayor Robert Dieckmann urged Bauer to contact the Kansas State Historical Society to see if there are any funds available to repair the pool, since it has been recognized as a historical structure.

The pool, located in Rafters Park north of Seventh Street and Nebraska Avenue, will open at noon Saturday with a free swim. The pool is scheduled to be open from noon to 9 p.m. daily, it was reported.

In other business on Monday, commissioners approved a “development agreement” with Walmart that Bauer said “lays out everything that Walmart is responsible for and everything that we are responsible for” in connection with the upcoming construction of a new Walmart store at the intersection of U.S. Highway 75 and Banner Road.

Bauer said the agreement includes two “points of contention” that have been negotiated between City Attorney Dennis White and attorneys for Walmart, which has had a presence in Holton since 1981. One, which White and Walmart’s attorneys agreed upon just prior to Monday’s meeting, is an indemnity clause; the other is a “construction inspection” document.

Concerning the latter, Bauer said the document “would have taken dollars out of our budget that were not budgeted” for construction of the new store, so Walmart is covering the cost of the document at its expense. Bauer also noted the document is required by the Kansas Department of Transportation as “a part of our duties and responsibilities for receiving funds” from KDOT for extension of Banner Road onto the new store’s parking lot.

No firm date has been set for a groundbreaking for the new store, although Walmart representatives have stated that it will be in “late spring or early summer.”

Commissioners also:

* Noted the absence of Commissioner Erich Campbell until about 7:45 p.m.

* Approved minutes from the May 4 meeting.

* Approved budget appropriations made since the May 4 meeting.

* Heard a complaint from Holton resident Guy Cameron about residents in his neighborhood who are operating all-terrain vehicles on their property and creating “a muddy, filthy mess.” Holton Police Chief Gale Gakle told Cameron that he had received some calls about the ATVs and suggested “alternate places to ride, somewhere out in the county” to family members. 

* Approved the purchase of dashboard video cameras for the city’s police patrol cars from Watch Guard of Allen, Texas, at a cost of $35,140. Of that amount, only $12,451.74 would come from the city’s equipment reserve fund, while the remainder would come from the police department’s “seizure fund” and a private donation, it was reported.

* Approved the lifting of a voluntary water watch for city water customers (see related story).

* Approved a zoning change on a property in the 700 block of New Jersey Avenue from I-1 (light industrial) zoning to R-2 (two-family dwelling) zoning. Bauer said Developmental Services of Jackson County owns the property and plans to build a duplex on it. The zoning change had been recommended by the Holton Planning Commission, it was noted.

* Adjourned the meeting at 7:50 p.m.

The Holton Recorder

109 W. Fourth St.
Holton, KS 66436
Phone: 785-364-3141
 

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