City, contractor at odds over pool leaks
Published by Jeff May 15th, 2007 in City.There was a meeting yesterday attended by representatives from the city and the contractor hired to repair the McCloy Park pool and replace its liner. The issue at hand was a big one. After substantial renovation and repair, the pool leaks. In fact, at present the pool may not be open for the summer.
MonticelloLive first reported on the city council’s decision to repair the pool after the February council meeting. At that meeting, the council hired…
contractor Kenny Johnson for a new contract price of $268,083. The original contract was for $242,585 but Johnson reported that once the project began it was discovered that “the pool is sub-standard construction-wise”. His concern is having to warranty the job for a year, wanting to be confident in the work he’s done. At $268,083 Mitch Rose, the engineer representing the city from McClellan Engineering, projects 5-10 more years use with the current restoration. At this cost, the liner will be replaced with upgraded material, some pipes will be replaced, the diving board will be repaired, a working drainage system will be installed, and the pool lights will be checked and replaced if needed.
According to some, Mayor Joe Rogers has said that he will not accept anything less than a new liner; however the contractor has reiterated that from the beginning, he warned the city about the pool’s faulty construction.
Rogers did not return phone calls for comment on the issue.
No one is happy about the problem, especially parents of children on Monticello’s award-winning swim team, the Marlins.
“Although the swim team has worked out the details to swim at UAM if that is necessary, we are still hoping that the pool issue will be resolved and that we’ll be able to swim there. It’s very, very hot at the UAM pool, but we’re just thankful that we can swim at all,” said swim team parent and board member Alisa Hopper.
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My children will be very disappointed if the pool does not get to open this summer. The city needs to do whatever it can to see that the pool gets to be open this summer to give the kids something to do.
i can appreciate the concerns of swim team parents, and well, just parents in general about the possibility of the pool not being ready for the summer. but whatever the city does to resolve the issue, i dont think it needs to be at a single penny of additional cost to the city. the city already contracted for $25,000 more than the initial contract, and according to what i’m assuming is a quote from the minutes of the council meeting (above), that was agreed to so that the contractor would warranty his work for a year. the contractor needs to honor that, if it is indeed what he said he’d do for the additional money. we should have something… like maybe the CONTRACT ITSELF… in writing that will prove this. if it turns out that the contractor did NOT agree to this, we need to find out how the city ended up in this position. but just because the kids need something to do in the summer is not going to be a very responsible reason for spending good money after bad on this project.