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Bright outlook for city pool in 2020
A variety of vivid colors are expected to help breathe new life into the Greencastle Aquatic Center for 2020.
With a number of changes and additions due at the city pool and Robe-Ann Park, thanks to a $1.6 million bond issue, some of the most visible will take place at the aquatic center.
Park officials have opted for a two-tone color scheme for the water slides, Park Director Rod Weinschenk told the Park Board at its December meeting.
Bright orange and bright green stripes, for example, are planned for the new slides.
“We wanted to add a lot of color to the facility,” Weinschenk said, indicating he wanted something “eye-catching to help keep people in town for their recreation.”
“We looked at blues, yellows and greens, but when we saw the ones with stripes, we really liked that,” Weinschenk said of the two-tone outdoor look.
Since the slide supports are made of galvanized steel, they will remain unpainted.
That’s the beauty of galvanized, Mayor Bill Dory said, “you don’t have to paint it.”
Pumps for the new slides will be positioned on the deck, hidden by four-foot fencing, Weinschenk said, indicating that the fencing color has yet to be determined.
“It all looks very ’summery,’” Park Board member Cathy Merrell suggested. “You don’t want to go too crazy with it so that in five years you’re wondering, ‘What’s up with that?’”
Weinschenk indicated he is still looking at an additional attraction for the shallow end of the pool.
“I don’t know what it’s going to be yet and whether it’s (budgeted for) in Phase I or Phase II,” he said.
Making the motion to approve the color selections as presented, Merrell added, “I can hardly wait for it (the pool) to open up.”
Fellow board members Joanna Muncie, John Hennette and President Tim Trigg made the vote unanimous.
Overall, the bond issue -- with which the city now has $1.6 million in the bank -- is expected to fund several projects at the aquatic center, including:
• Bathhouse renovation, including refurbishing the existing facility, expansion to include new family changing rooms and a new entry area.
• Installation of a new two-flume water slide, a project that includes removal of the existing water slide.
• Installation of a new drop-type water slide in the diving well.
• Installation of children’s water play structures in the zero-depth end of the pool.
• Creation of a reserve for pool equipment replacement for upcoming pump and filter replacements (to be funded by EDIT dollar allocations).
Progress has been good, Weinschenk reported on the interior renovations at the poolhouse.
The women’s locker room has been painted white with Caribbean blue trim, while lockers were demolished and the area stripped clean.
“I think we’re making good progress,” Weinschenk said with a nod to Bill Mentgen of Energy Conservation Solutions, which is doing that work.
“The walls that are painted look really nice in the photos,” Merrell said, “and photos don’t usually don’t them justice. It looks really nice so far.”
In other business, the Park Board:
-- Heard Mayor Dory reported that the Park Department was approved for a $597,000 budget for 2020. The city had asked for $617,000 for park spending but the state cut only the Park Department and General Fund in setting the city’s budget for the coming year.
-- Heard Weinschenk report that 187 youngsters have signed up for the youth basketball program, up from 170 last year. Additional youngsters will be taken until Jan. 1. There are 28 teams across the various age groups this year, he said.
-- Listened to Weinschenk make his annual plea for donations of Legos or other building blocks that people may have tucked away in their attics, basements or closets to add to his department’s arsenal.
-- Heard Weinschenk report that the recent pie-baking contest raised $185 for the youth basketball program with 10 pies entered in the inaugural effort. Pies were then sold by the slice to help raise money. Weinschenk himself took second place in the key lime pie division with the first pie he said he’s ever made.
The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Park Board is set for 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 2 at City Hall.