Wallace Pool saga nearing end

WALLACE — The finish line is in sight for the Wallace Swimming Pool.

It’s been four long years since it was discovered that the pool was mysteriously leaking water and subsequently closed, but in just a few months those years will be nothing more than memories.

The road to reopening has been fraught with different ups and downs, beginning with a $30,000 consultation fee with aquatic engineering firm Terracon — who believed that repairing the pool would cost less than half a million dollars — $450,000 to be exact.

Last June, after multiple attempts to find a suitable bid, the city finally agreed to pay S&L Underground $997,750 to repair the pool — and after multiple change orders the total amount spent will be closer to $1.1 million.

Throughout the entire process of figuring out what was wrong with the pool, and then finding someone to fix the pool, behind the scenes, several groups worked together to figure out who would be paying for all of it.

The city wisely allocated its annual operating funds for the four missed years of operation toward the repairs, local donations were received, various fundraising events took place, and then finally — a grant from the Idaho Department of Commerce that covered the final 25% of the project.

Most of the major work has been completed, now it’s just about putting the final touches on various cosmetic concerns and then a few other upgrades and it will be fun in the sun come summer time.

“The pool is just about finished,” said Wallace City Councilwoman Heather Branstetter. “We still have to dry and paint the pool. At council (the February Wallace City Council meeting) we also approved the change orders to sandblast the deck and install deck drains and we also approved spending the money necessary to fix the plumbing in the pool house. So that work remains, as well.”

Once the pool is completed, the Friends of the Wallace Pool, a locally-based special interest group, would like to be involved as much as they can in getting the pool ready to open.

“The Friends of the Wallace Pool would like to assist as much as they can,” Branstetter mentioned, “while prioritizing the summer swim program and also supplying safety equipment and certification for whoever we hire to be lifeguards.”