Lovell swimming pool project reignited
A longtime community leader and concerned citizen has dived into the Lovell swimming pool issue in hopes of advancing the project and finding a solution.
Dave Winterholler recently became interested in maintaining a pool in Lovell when he and wife Susan were taking their grandchildren Kipp and Kash to swimming lessons and realized what a valuable community asset a pool is.
“Sues made it a point to start to go to the pool regularly, because she saw what he (Kipp) needed to do to swim, and this was the only place he could get that and feel safe, because there was a lifeguard there, and it was a controlled situation,” Winterholler said. And recalling a community meeting in May of 2023 about the status of the pool, he said, “We were talking about the pool, and I said we need to see where that’s at.
“So I went down and talked to Jed Nebel (town administrator), and Jed was great. I said, ‘Where’s the pool committee? I’d like to be on it.’”
Nebel told Winterholler that the committee hadn’t met for four or five months, so Winterholler volunteered his help.
“I said I’d like to help it, or be in charge, or collect information. I didn’t want to take over, but I wanted to help any way I could,” Winterholler said.
He met with Mayor Tom Newman, Nebel and two members of the town council at a work meeting and told them the same thing.
“I asked if I could help, or be in charge, or whatever, of the pool committee and just get some background information,” he said. “I didn’t want to take over, but I wanted to help the process go, whatever capacity that was in. They said that would be great, and we were going to get some information and set up a time that the community could come together again and make some informed decisions.”
What Winterholler learned in meeting with the town is that building new or rebuilding the current pool is an expensive proposition.
Background
The pool was constructed in 1978 when the Town of Lovell had an opportunity to obtain a federal grant due to Big Horn County having the highest unemployment rate in Wyoming, according to former Lovell Chronicle publisher Pat Schmidt, who was a member of the school board at that time. The pool was also constructed in the area of the original outdoor pool owned and operated by the town. Hence, the pool and pool building are owned by the Town of Lovell, which obtained the grant, and the pool is maintained in cooperation between the town and school district. The district, which uses the pool the most, pays 75 percent of operation and maintenance, the town 25 percent, essentially summertime months.
Schmidt recalled the town paying only $35,000 toward the pool in 1978 because of the grant money.
As the pool has aged over the past 45 years, issues have cropped up from time to time, with the school district and town realizing the pool could not last forever. In 2019, the town and school district contracted with Burbach Aquatics from Wisconsin to study the issue and come up with a cost proposal. Burbach estimated it would cost $4.6 million to completely replace the pool from the ground up.
And as Town Administrator Nebel pointed out during the May 3, 2023, public meeting, “That $4.6 million does not include any architectural and structural things that we need to do for the building itself. That is simply for the pool and its components. It also doesn’t include any overhead profit of the engineering company. When we saw that number, we were pretty blown away.”
So the district in 2022 sought a second opinion from Interstate Engineering, who offered an alternative in the form of a replacement liner, rather than a complete rebuild, but even that proposal was estimated to cost $2.7 million, and again, it didn’t include support facilities, HVAC and necessary ADA accessibility upgrades.
In the meantime – and the driving issue behind the March of 2023 meeting – the pool’s air handler has begun to fail to the point that the pool water cannot be maintained at swimming temperature during the winter because of a buildup of humidity in the building. And so the pool essentially shuts down during the winter months.
As was pointed out at the 2023 meeting, the town does not have the bonding capacity to fund a pool project, and most grants will not pay for an indoor pool, Nebel said at the time, and even if a Land and Water Conservation grant could be obtained, the town could not afford the 50-50 match. And since the school district doesn’t own the facility, it, too, is handcuffed when it comes to obtaining grant money, Supt. Doug Hazen said at the time, adding that the School Facilities Committee is unlikely to pay for a pool in a district with only 700 students.
With all of that bad news more than a year ago, the pool committee apparently stopped meeting.
Enter Dave Winterholler.
In an interview Monday, Winterholler said he fully understands the tough situation the school district and town are in, noting that the air handler is essentially non-functional, and the pool lining is thin and fragile. He told a story that when district maintenance supervisor Jason Jolley was fixing a tiny hole in the lining with some putty, he pushed on the putty and his finger went through the lining, such is the fragile condition of the lining.
Jolley told Winterholler the pool could fail at any time.
“Jason has been nothing but helpful,” Winterholler said. “He was willing to do whatever he could to help this, but he also feels that the pool could be shut down at any time over a small repair. He said, ‘Well, it ran good this year. We had a good year. It could last another year. It could be down next week.’ That was basically how he explained it to me.”
Winterholler said both the district and town told him they wished the powers that be had started putting money away 40 or 45 years ago to one day replace the pool, but that didn’t happen.
Seeking solutions
Winterholler said the cost estimates for replacing the pool were like a punch to the gut, as Mayor Newman put it, and it has taken a while “to catch our breath and start over, so that’s where we’re at now.”
With financing perhaps unavailable for an indoor pool project, Winterholler wondered about a third option: building an outdoor pool near the current pool on the school campus, noting that Greybull built a new outdoor pool a few years ago and was able to obtain some grant money to help fund the project.
Winterholler spoke with Town of Greybull administrator Carrie Hunt about Greybull’s pool and was told the outdoor pool cost around $1 million, with the state chipping in more than $200,000.
“They were able to use donations in the form of excavation work, dirt work, things like that, and it ended up with the town coming up with not that much money. I don’t even think they paid for half of it. It was very doable.”
Asked what Greybull would do different with the pool if they had a chance to do it over, Winterholler said Hunt told him that a zero-entrance pool with a sloping entry point at one end for kids would have been nice, along with some slides and fun equipment for children.
Hunt told Winterholler that chemicals for the pool cost about $10,000 per year, he said, but the biggest challenge is staffing lifeguards.
There are issues connected with the town trying to give the pool building to the school district, as well, Winterholler said, which he needs to dig into with Nebel.
Looking ahead
If the outdoor pool were to be built, and if the pool building is structurally sound, the district could use the building for an auxiliary gym or some other facility like a wrestling room and/or offices for the Lovell Recreation District, Winterholler said. If constructed near the gym, the restrooms and locker rooms could be used for pool changing rooms.
The next step, Winterholler said, is to finish initial research, then hold another community meeting to gauge and garner support for a revamped pool project.
“We want to let the community know where we’re at and what the options are,” Winterholler said. “Now, if somebody else knows where we can get some money or improve what we’ve got, cheaper, please let us know. We’re here to work together as a community. We’re not trying to push our own agenda. We just want a pool for our kids.”
Winterholler worked with Nebel to schedule a community meeting regarding the pool on Monday, Oct. 21, at the Lovell Community Center, with the meeting starting at 7 p.m.
Winterholler said his main message is that he wants the pool project to be a total community project, noting, “We don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings who were on the initial pool committee. We want everyone to feel a part of this and have a voice. We’ve just done a little more research. Share your thoughts.
“I talked to a couple people that were there (at the March 2023 meeting), but I haven’t even been able to talk to all of the people that were there, and if they have any additional information, I would appreciate a phone call or just letting us know.”
Winterholler said he would like to see a pool committee run the facility once it’s built, just like the Foster Gulch Board operates the golf course, adding, “The golf board is doing a fantastic job with the golf course and actually making money.”