City pool may open for 2020 without new slide in place

Monday, January 6, 2020

With new offerings and renovated surroundings, this summer was supposed to be an exciting one for the Greencastle Aquatic Center.

And although that still could easily be true, Greencastle Park Director Rod Weinschenk has warned that everything might not be ready in time for opening day in May.

With Park Board member John Hennette asking that “if everything goes smoothly,” when would the pool open this summer, Weinschenk was realistic in his answer.

“Ideally on Memorial Day weekend,” Weinschenk said, adding that it more likely might be a few days later.

After all, Memorial Day weekend this year is the earliest it can be on the calendar, May 23-25.

The worst-case scenario, the park director, said is that no bids are received when the $1.6 million pool and Robe-Ann Park renovation project goes up for bids on Jan. 21.

“We’ve been warned,” Weinschenk said, “that some big pool projects have received no bids. But there are six pool companies within 60 miles of Greencastle.”

The bid package will include removal of the existing water slide and addition of a two-slide configuration as well as fencing to hide the pumps that will be placed on the deck.

Any work that involves areas that would be underwater once the pool is filled, needs to be complete by May 1, Weinschenk told the Park Board at its recent January meeting.

“We’re still targeting the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend,” he said, “but there’s a good chance we may open the aquatic center without a water slide.”

If that occurs, Weinschenk said the new goal for the water slides would be for July 3 completion “in good time to break it in” on the July 4th holiday weekend.

The pool could still open, Weinschenk said, with the area surrounding the slide construction cordoned off and the remainder of the pool still open for swimming.

The bid opening is set for 3 p.m. Jan. 21 with a special Park Board meeting slated for Thursday, Jan. 23 (time to be determined, possibly 7 p.m.) to award bids.

As far as the renovation work at the bathhouse, the interior walls have been painted white and partitions pained blue, Weinschenk said.

Scorpion is due in this week to start the floors of the bathhouse, he said.

“So the project is coming along,” Weinschenk said, calling all the work in progress and planned for the future “exciting.”

Meanwhile, Park Board members wondered how the experiment of having Putnam County Comprehensive Services (PCCS) do the pool concessions this past summer worked out.

Mayor Bill Dory said he has had an informal conversation with PCCS Director Andrew Ranck about the concessions, and said PCCS essentially broke even and is encouraged about coming back again this summer.

Weinschenk, however, may have other ideas.

“With all the changes we’ve got going on and the idea is to keep people there (at the pool) longer, if so, one place we can make money is concessions,” the park director said.

Weinschenk said he would like to meet with his staff to discuss it. “Can we staff it? Can we supervise it?” Those are the questions.

After all, the last time the concessions were run by the park staff, those operations ended up in the red.

Joining Weinschenk, Hennette and Mayor Dory for the January regular session were Park Board President Tim Trigg and fellow members Cathy Merrell and Joanna Muncie along with Assistant Director Chrysta Snellenberger and Park Maintenance Director David Bault.

The next regular session of the board is set for 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 6 at City Hall

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  • I don't believe the pool personnel have ever made money, at least during Rod's tenure as park director, operating the concession stand at the pool or the ball diamond. Therefore, if PCCS wants to operate the concession stand again in 2020, I'm confident they learned a lot from their initial year and they should be given another opportunity to see if they can operate it in the black.

    -- Posted by gustave&zelma on Tue, Jan 7, 2020, at 5:28 PM
  • So the water slide may not be usable until July 4, then they'll close the pool for the season a few weeks later. Maybe the bids should have been let sooner. Am I missing something here?

    -- Posted by Ben Dover on Tue, Jan 7, 2020, at 8:51 PM
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