Barrhead no longer has a swimming pool.
The Kinsmen Aquatic Centre was closed yesterday after being deemed unsafe for further use. A swim meet expected to be held there last weekend was called off.
Two full-time employees and 16 part-time or casual staff have been laid off. Among them is Aquatics Supervisor Debbie Crossland, who was hired in December.
Barrhead Town Council’s decision followed news it would cost about $60,000 to carry out in-depth and up-to-date research into the extent of repairs needed at the mould-infested pool.
A 2011 review of the pool by Edmonton-based Architecture | Arndt Tkalcic Bengert pinpointed several “critical” problems which needed immediate attention, including deteriorating roofing, walls and ceilings. The firm defined “critical” as unsafe, high risk of injury or critical system failure.
Although these repairs would cost an estimated $1.4 million, it is claimed the bill for bringing the whole facility up to standard would top $5 million.
Mayor Gerry St. Pierre said it was time for council to bite the bullet.
“There is no use throwing good money after bad,” he told councillors at their meeting on Monday, February 10.
St. Pierre said the focus should now switch to building a new aquatic centre. That was the challenge facing the Town, he added.
Coun. Roy Ulmer put forward the motion that the pool close on Monday, Feb. 17 after the Nordic Chill swim meet, although it later emerged the event was scheduled to end on Sunday.
By Wednesday, it was announced the Nordic Chill – an annual event attracting clubs from around the area – had been postponed while Barrhead Swim Club looks for another venue.
A notice attached to the inside door of the pool last week said the centre would close at 5 p.m. on Sunday “permanently.”
“In my opinion I think we should close the pool down until we can be assured it is safe for the community to use,” Ulmer said.
Coun. Don Smith feared the council could be liable if someone is injured at the pool.
“Based on the information brought forward to us, I can’t see us keeping the pool kept open another day,” he said. “There are roof issues, health issues, there are things going on there that could throw us into a liability situation if we wait another day.”
Only councillor Ryan Warehime declined to support the closure motion.
Although acknowledging safety concerns, he said he struggled with making a decision that would have such a profound effect on the community.
“It’s tough closing one centre without knowing whether we will have another one open,” he said.
The aquatic centre was built as an outdoor pool in the 1960s, enclosed during the 1970s, and renovated in 1998 and 2000.
In a report to council, Chief Administrative Officer Martin Taylor said a “peripheral” review and analysis of the pool was completed in February 2011.
This identified key areas of concern that needed to be addressed immediately, including roofing, interior walls, ceilings and conduit, conductors and boxes.
“To address just those areas of concern would cost an estimated $1.4 million to remediate (as identified in 2011),” said Taylor. “To date none of these deficiencies have been addressed or an action plan developed.”
Taylor said he believed it imperative the deficiencies be tackled immediately.
His opinion, he said, was based on several reports submitted to the Town in the last few years.
“To that end I have contacted the original architecture firm to provide a cost estimate which would see them actually get up into the roofing structure and behind some interior walls to determine a more accurate/updated view of the extent of those deficiencies and concerns,” he said. “The cost to do this in-depth research is estimated at $60,000.
“It is incumbent on the Town of Barrhead to correct this situation in accordance with risk management standards and to ensure the safety of all facility users and staff.”
Taylor recommend the council either invest up to $60,000 to get a more detailed assessment of the pool from Architecture | Arndt Tkalcic Bengert, or close the facility.
In a press release issued on Tuesday, Taylor announced the aquatic centre would close permanently effective the evening of Monday. Feb. 17.
“The reason for this closure is for the safety of our citizens and staff,” he said.
In presenting his motion, Ulmer said he opposed giving Arndt Tkalcic Bengert $60,000 to tell the council what it already knew.
“I disagree with giving them an open cheque,” he said.
Ulmer added, however, he could agree to an engineer charging $5,000 or $10,000 for dealing with a structural problem.
Coun. Ty Assaf admitted he had not been looking forward to this night.
He said he was not prepared for the council to pay another dime on reassessing well-known problems with the pool.
Assaf said the safety of pool employees and the public should be paramount.
Coun. Don Smith said there had been concern about the pool for years.
“We have a pool that has outlived its lifespan,” he said. “We have kept the door open for as long as possible. Now the time has come to make the right decision to close that pool to ensure the safety of our employees.”
Smith said the council had to face hard facts.
“I don’t want to see anybody in our community get hurt,” he said.
After the vote was taken, Smith reminded councillors there was no guarantee a new aquatic centre would be built. Therefore, they had to answer a vital question: did they want to spend $5 million on refurbishing the existing centre, or spend nothing and risk the town ending up without a pool?
Coun. Shelley Oswald agreed with previous speakers, saying putting money into a pool retrofit did not make any business sense.
“It is safety first, safety first,” she said.
Coun. Leslie Penny said the cost of rehabilitating the pool was reckoned to be in the region of $5 million, according to facility analysis by Architecture | ATB.
She wondered whether Barrhead could return to the days of having a swimming pool without a roof.
“We still have water and good water,” she said.
Coun. Warehime accepted there were significant safety concerns about the pool.
He asked whether schools could be offered use of the Agrena at no charge in lieu of swimming.
St. Pierre said the pool closure could perhaps provide an incentive for Barrhead to get a new aquatic centre.
“We cannot spend any more on the pool,” he said. “The next step is to promote construction of a new pool. We have a challenge with our partners.”
St. Pierre hoped Barrhead County Council would reconsider its decision to contribute a maximum of $5 million towards a new centre. He urged the County to match the Town’s commitment of up to $7 million.
It should be remembered, said St. Pierre, that the County represents 60 per cent of the community.
Parks and recreation director Sue Keenan told council that Alberta Health Department wanted some of the remediation work done by June 30.
She believed the cost of overhauling the facility would be much more than $5 million.
“When the original report was crafted three years ago, the estimated cost of remediating that facility was just over $5 million,” she said.
“It is important to keep in mind that that didn’t give the engineering people any access to the ceilings of that facility or behind the walls. So God only knows what’s behind them. It’s going to be way more than $5 million to remediate that facility. I can pretty much guarantee that.”
Keenan agreed with the argument that the pool’s condition put the municipality in an awkward position over liability.
She said efforts had been made to keep staff in the loop about pool developments.
“We have been very transparent,” she said.
