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By Dena Wood
The Times 

Council Approves Free Swimming

Swimmers will not be charged for remainder of summer due to problems with liner application

 

Dena Wood

Carter Barron takes a brief respite during an afternoon spentjumping, diving and sliding at the Waitsburg City Pool during pool's re-opening last week.

WAITSBURG – In response to a delayed pool opening, followed by a quick closure and re-opening, Waitsburg's city council agreed to allow free swimming for the remainder of the summer, at their July 16 meeting.

City Administrator Randy Hinchliffe said that, typically, the first month of the pool being open is busiest and that's also when family passes are sold. With the late opening, missed rentals, and pass refunds, Hinchliffe said the city has probably already missed out on well over half the typical summer pool revenue of $6,000.

"We were able to work with the grantor that provides money for swim lessons and Saturday swim and they allowed us to keep those, so that's still in place," Hinchliffe said.

Councilmember Marty Dunn spoke in favor of free swimming. "It's not their fault. It's all contingent on what we had to do. Let's wipe the slate clean and let them swim free." The rest of the council agreed.

The council also sought answers regarding who was at fault for the pool having to be drained and re-sanded following the first opening.

The pool was originally slated to open June 15, but because of unavoidable delays in the application of the pool liner, that date was postponed two weeks until June 29.

The pool was open for a few hours on July 29, until it became clear that areas of the pool's surface, where the paint liner had been applied over patches of fiberglass, were rough enough that children were getting their feet scraped.

The pool was drained, the rough patches were sanded, and the pool re-opened on July 13. There have been no complaints reported since the reopening, though Hinchliffe said another layer of liner would need to be added before next summer.

Hinchliffe gave council members samples of the lining, which he said should have been 8 mils thick, but appeared to be about half that. Hinchliffe said that the product worked very well on the parts of the pool that were smooth, but not on the fiberglass sections.

"Why did they go ahead and apply it if they knew it wasn't going to work?" asked councilmember Karl Newell.

Hinchliffe said he had no idea, other than they may have felt pressured by the city to put it down.

City Attorney Jared Hawkins said that liability differs depending upon the agreement. If it was the painter's duty to ensure the surface was sufficient and they signed off on it, they are liable. But if they walked in expecting the city to have it ready to go, then they're not, he said.

"I don't have a good handle on which is which at this point because I wasn't involved in the conversations with the painter but I was a general contractor for a lot of years and I would have ensured that any of my work that was contingent upon somebody else's work had some form of a liability clause in there," said councilmember K.C. Kuykendall.

Kuykendall said he felt it was the painter's responsibility to bring information to the council showing that he is not liable for the failed application. Mayor Gobel requested that Hinchliffe and Hawkins follow up on the issue with the painter.

 

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