The Crookston Park Board met on Monday to discuss the feasibility study conducted for the Crookston Community Pool.
AE2S conducted the study and provided its results to the city last week. Parks and Recreation Director Scott Butt and Interim City Administrator Darin Selzler went over the study with the board, which presented several options for the pool’s future, including complete demolition of the existing pool, demolition and construction of a replacement pool facility, or maintenance of the current facility. AE2S’s findings indicated that they recommend maintaining the current facility rather than removing the pool altogether.
Butt thanked AE2S for their work in conducting the study, even though they did not meet the initial deadline to submit the study’s results. He believed that keeping the current pool facility would be the most fiscally responsible move, especially given its consistent use by the Crookston community and solid infrastructure. “The nice part is we found out that our boiler still has a long life left, and we have a lot of things that are still in really good shape,” Butt said. “So down the road, as we look at what decisions we’re going to be making towards the pool, we feel like there are positives. Obviously, there are negatives in there too, but I think we’re definitely in a position to make a good decision down the road.
The estimated Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) for maintaining the current pool, which calculates the net present value (NPV) of current repair costs along with other capital and operating costs over a 20-year span, is $12,737,000, with $$7,937,000 in NPV costs. The option to remove the pool without a replacement is $675,000, and removing and replacing the pool would cost $45,400,000. The board agreed that a new pool is not the answer, but their concern is funding the recommended repairs to the current pool. Some of the repairs mentioned in the study include removing corrosion and repainting the steel joists on the roof, replacing floor tiles in the locker rooms and entryway, installing new exterior and interior doors, replacing components in the building’s HVAC system, and addressing other minor-to-moderate needs. “We’ve done a lot of research, talked to a lot of people, and it was a little higher than I expected, but it was not very much higher than I expected,” explained Butt. “So I would say ballpark, and it’s going to be definitely a challenge to figure everything out. But for the most part, the numbers, in today’s world, fell into what the numbers are in today’s world, and they can be something that can be a detractor, or we can look at it and say, ‘okay, how do we step forward and how do we do this?'”
Board members Charles “Corky” Reynolds and Vice Chair Tim Moe seemed to agree with the study’s findings and recommendations, but they would like to explore options to fund the necessary repairs through grants and other loan programs. In addition, they would like to give the community a chance to voice their opinions on the available options, possibly through a referendum in a future election. Butt agreed that the community deserves the cahnce to be educated about the options and give their honest feedback to the board and city council. “I think that’s the huge part of this is getting the citizens’ input and the users’ input, and finding out just exactly what the community wants, and then we can go from there,” said Butt. “In listening to the park board, they don’t want to make any decisions about anything until the community really tells us what they want in the pool. And I think that is definitely something that has to be done. It’s a huge factor in all of this.”
The next Park Board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, October 13, at 4:30 p.m. in the conference room at City Hall.
