Improvements made to Holton pool

As Holton Parks and Recreation Director Mike Reichle puts it, early spring is “a busy time of year” — and one of the things that’s keeping Reichle the busiest is making sure that Holton’s municipal swimming pool will be ready to open on Memorial Day weekend.

“Our plan is to be ready,” Reichle said of the upcoming pool season, set to begin Saturday, May 24. “We don’t see any problems so far.”

Less than half a year ago, however, Reichle was looking for some quick fixes that would allow the pool to even open this year — mainly a new sand filtration system and balance tank for the pool, as he told members of the Holton City Commission at a work session at the pool last October. The commission was quick to take action, approving the purchase of a new sand filter and balance tank a week later.

Now, Reichle’s looking at a longer-term goal for the 385,000-gallon pool, a goal that involves obtaining grant funds to preserve the pool’s bath house, which has been declared a historic landmark due to its construction with Works Progress Administration funds during the 1930s and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.

“We’re not going to make it by June of this year to get any grant applications in, but we’re seriously going to look at some grant-writing to do some major repairs,” said Reichle, who added that he is working with Holton City Manager Teresa Riley on locating some funds to repair the limestone at the bath house.

It’s part of Reichle’s plan to combine the old and the new in keeping the pool a draw to young people of all ages in the area in the summertime. Part of the draw was the pool’s purchase and installation last year of a couple of water slides for younger people, he said.

In October, Reichle hosted a work session at the pool to show city commissioners what else needed to be done at the pool, particularly where the balance tank, filter system, bath house and pool entrance were concerned. The balance tank — a reservoir that stores excess pool water and keeps the pool’s water level constant — had fallen victim to rust, as had valves and drainage lines connected to the tank.

As for the sand filtration system, Reichle pointed to a hole in one of the steel tanks that had also been caused by rust. That particular system, he said at the time, had been in place since a massive restoration effort at the pool in the mid-1980s, adding that the usable life of such a system is usually about 25 years.

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