Noticeably missing from this summer's activity list is swimming at the Roosevelt Park Pool, but repair work on it will soon get under way.
Roosevelt Park Pool had more than $600,000 worth of damage from last summer's flood, according to director of parks Ron Merritt. He said their flood insurance covered the bathhouse, but not the mechanical or functional parts of the pool. The pumps, filtration system, a portion of the water slide, the main boiler and the filter shed, along with a few other things, need to be replaced, Merritt continued. There was also damage to the inside of the bathhouse that will need to be replaced, and the mechanical systems for the kiddie pool and boiler system need to be replaced, he explained, and there's the typical repair work from the flood damage that's also needed.
It's not known what still needs to be done to get the pool itself back in working order.
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Jill Hambek/MDN
The Roosevelt Park Pool has been closed for the second summer in a row due to damage caused by last year’s flood, but repair work on it will start by the end of August and will be ready for next summer. The pool sustained over $600,000 worth of damage from the flood.
"We got all the stains off and it looks nice, but we have to make sure the underground pipes don't have silt in them and we'll take a camera to check," Merritt explained.
Kadrmas, Lee and Jackson are bidding out the pool repair project right now, Merritt said, and repair work will be easier because the bathhouse was just updated four years ago. The park district has a good-sized contract with KLJ for full repair of the pool, kiddie pool, and the playground, he noted. It will be the end of August by the time the pool repair project starts, Merritt added.
The pool will be open by the first week in June next summer, Merritt said.
"That's our goal. I think we'll be able to get the pool open," he said.
The bathhouse at the pool is practically new, Merritt said, so the park district had always planned on fixing the pool rather than rebuilding. The bathhouse was designed to be wet, he noted, but the doors and cabinets inside will need to be replaced. Structurally, the building and pool are fine, Merritt said.
The chemical control and filtration systems are complex to fix, Merritt also said, while the big boiler to heat the pool is the most expensive.
"It's $80,000 worth of equipment to fix," he said.
The Minot Park District recently received a $370,000 grant from the Otto Bremer Foundation, which will be used to repair pool.
"That's huge," Merritt said, since it was money they were short and didn't know where they'd get it from. "It really made things easy."
Merritt said the grant money will go toward all the items not covered through their flood insurance. The mechanical systems were not covered, he noted.
Also, Patrice Mitchell, teacher at Jim Hill Middle School and swimming instructor, sold t-shirts and raised almost $7,000 to help the pool, Merritt said.
There will be a grand reopening celebration when Roosevelt Park Pool opens again. Merritt said they will do a ribbon-cutting and they'll make a big deal out of it. The pool was ready to go last year before the flood came, so it will have been two summers without an available pool in Minot for people to enjoy.
However, there are no set plans for expansion of the pool or building another one in a different location. Merritt said it's a 50-meter outdoor pool, which is huge, and the bathhouse is big enough to handle a full capacity crowd. On the other hand, there are plans to build another splash pad in the future because it's cheaper than a pool to operate, but never say never to something like another pool, he remarked.
"We've put a bunch of money into the pool we have to make it nice and people seem to be happy with that," he said.