Pool repairs discussed at special meeting
Holton’s historic municipal swimming pool has been a part of the community for more than 85 years, but changes to the pool — specifically, limestone work at the bath house and new equipment to keep pool water clean and pool levels steady — are needed to keep it around for even longer.
That’s what Holton Parks and Recreation Director Mike Reichle told the Holton City Commission during a special Monday morning work session, in which commissioners received a tour of the pool and got “an opportunity to look at things that are wrong with the pool and our best plan for fixing it,” as Holton City Manager Teresa Riley put it.
Limestone repair at the bath house, built in the mid-1930s as part of the Works Progress Administration project that brought the pool to Holton, is needed on the exterior of the building, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2009. While some of the limestone has been replaced, Reichle said, maintenance on the stone is needed on an annual basis.
And at the pool’s pump house, which Reichle said is in decent shape, a new “balance tank” — a reservoir that stores excess pool water and keeps the pool’s water level constant — and sand filtration system are needed to keep the 385,000-gallon pool in good operating shape.
“What we’re really looking at here is whether we’re going to continue to use this swimming pool,” Reichle told commissioners. “Are we going to invest in this, are we going to go out and get a grant for $500,000 and look at some of these issues and put them on contractors’ lists so they can come in and solve our problems? That’s what I’d be hoping.”
Riley said the next step for commissioners following Monday’s work session may be to consider hiring a consultant to study the pool and come up with a plan to make repairs and improvements — as well as a plan to pay for those repairs and improvements — and that may be an agenda item for the next commission meeting, which is scheduled for this Monday, Nov. 4.
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