Pool Campaign Onto Plan B To Get New Pool In Glasgow

After hitting a roadblock earlier this year when a lone construction bid for a new pool, bathhouse and parking loop came in millions over the engineer estimate from July 2022, the Valley County Community Pool Campaign committee has been meeting, working and discussing with key stakeholders what the next steps will look like in order to get a new pool for Valley County.

When the lone bid was reviewed in January, the bid came in at $4,693,422 with the breakdown of $2,288,695 for the swimming pool, $2,146,651 for the pool house structure and $258,076 for the parking loop. The Campaign, to date, has raised $3,093,681.21 gross, after spending funds on fundraising and engineering/design fees, therefore accepting the one bid that came in was not going to be fiscally responsible to accept.

After speaking to the engineer on the project and the committee, the Glasgow City Council directed to look into the feasibility of building a new swimming pool and just renovating the current bathhouse rather than building new.

While the campaign volunteers and engineers went back to the drawing board, the Glasgow Recreation Board voted unanimously to permanently close the City of Glasgow Swimming Pool, citing budget, liability and mechanical and structural issues. This however will not affect the Glasgow Kiwanis Swim Team’s season as they will travel and utilize Wolf Point’s pool for the season. As a result of not being able to offer swim lessons due to the closure, the Glasgow Recreation Department has increased the number of summer classes available.

The Campaign and the engineer, Interstate Engineering, has officially moved into Plan B stage in order to get this project moving forward. The plan includes putting out a bid for contractors to demolish the existing pool, construct a 600 square feet mechanical building with water, sewer, gas and electrical services that will house the boiler and chlorine equipment and construct a new 250,000 gallon pool, with the contractor having the option to choose materials of painted, shotcrete; PVC lined, concrete; or stainless steel sidewall material. The bid process will be open for four weeks, starting April 5, with bids being opened on May 3 in the City Council Chambers.

“We’re hoping by focusing on the pool over the pool and bath house, in addition to giving three different options of alternatives, we’re hoping that we’ve kind of thrown out so many options out there,” stated committee member Taylor Zerbe on the hope there will be more than one bid submitted this time around. In addition to the request being published in The Glasgow Courier, the request will also be sent through the Builders Exchange which includes multiple states in addition to Montana such as North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Interstate Engineering will also share it with their contacts.

Another way to motivate additional bids this time around is the extension of the completion date to May 30, 2025. According to Meggan Walstad, another volunteer for the campaign, this time of year most pool builders have already committed to other projects so by having the ability to start the project at a later date instead would hopefully provide a higher probability for achieving the completion date. “That’s the other thing too, they’re short on people, a lot of the contractors, and materials are very hard to secure in a timely manner. There are just so many unknown factors that even with the best of intentions, you kind of have to make Plan B and see what happens,” explained Walstad on why future plans are not in the works quite yet if Plan B does not result in anticipated goals.

One piece of good news for the Campaign, is the Land Water and Conservation grant in the amount of $250,000 that was set to expire this year has been extended due to other recipients’ projects also being delayed as a result of inflation and supply chain issues. “There’s been active progress made and I think in addition to other projects like ours taking a longer time, we’ve been able to be like ‘we’ve gone out to bid, we’ve had to come back to a redesign, we’re going back to bid.’ I think we’ve showed substantial progress that we are trying to get this money spent,” explained Zerbe.

The other good news is that other grant options are being researched and applications are in the works so once a bid is accepted, additional grants can be looked into to help with the final costs associated with the pool.

Once the pool only project is complete, the next step would be to remodel the bathhouse. “Once we try to finish the remodel of the bathhouse, that will be a smaller endeavor and more achievable to apply for grants on that part. We hope that can be done locally....be more of a local effort. We’re hoping that we can still establish a family restroom, but will certainly depend on funds,” explained Walstad.

The Valley County Pool Campaign is still accepting donations for the project and also have some events planned for the summer. Individuals are encouraged to donate through their website, http://www.valcopool.com, by emailing [email protected] or calling 406-228-8341. They are a 501c3 organization, where in addition to cash they can receive appreciated assets, Thrivent Choice dollars, commodities, appreciated stock and retirement distributions.

Further information on the campaign can also be located on their website.