Jessica Cejnar Andrews / Thursday, May 19, 2022 @ 1:21 p.m. / Infrastructure, Local Government
Emergency Ceiling Repairs Force Pool Closure, Sheds Light on Supply Chain Issues Affecting Other City Projects
The Fred Endert Municipal Pool will be closed for about a a month for emergency repairs to the building's ceiling. | File photo: Andrew Goff
Previously:
• Crescent City Pool Closed Due To 'Ceiling Issue'
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The Fred Endert Municipal Pool will be out of commission for about a month as city crews re-nail ceiling trim and panels that had fallen into the pool area on May 10.
City Manager Eric Wier said the pool was full of patrons when the fasteners holding the ceiling trim and panels in place began to give way.
“There was an exercise program. They were doing their thing, people were in there for physical therapy — I was talking to a guy who had a broken hip,” he told City Councilors on Monday. “I called them all over to the shallow end and had to explain the situation. They were all very gracious. They understood what was going on and wanted to see updates.”
Because of the swimming pool’s emergency repairs, Crescent City staff and members of the Measure S Oversight Committee have had to shift gears with regard to budgeting to allow the facility to reopen as soon as possible.
Supply chain issues are also making it difficult to get basic materials, not only for pool repairs, but for street projects like the reconstruction of Front Street, according to Wier, Finance Director Linda Leaver and Public Works Director Jon Olson.
With respect to the pool, Wier told Councilors that Olson had considered constructing a netting system that could catch any ceiling trim or debris and keep it from the pool. But, he said, it would take about three weeks to get the parts and pieces needed for such a system.
“The truth is we have a contract that’s ready to go,” Wier told the City Council. “By the time you actually get the netting, by the time you put the pulley system put in, it’s almost going to be the same time that we could have had it all re-nailed in anyway.”
The city has contracted with Hemmingsen Construction to do the project, which involves installing an 8-foot door to get an articulated reach lift into the building since the city is about 30-40 feet above the pool. Olson is looking into installing a roll-up door that would make maintenance of the pool, including changing out lightbulbs, easier, Wier said.
On Thursday, Wier said the public works department had opened up a hole in the pool building to get the lifts inside. He told the Wild Rivers Outpost the city is trying everything it can to beat the timeframe.
“At this point we’re still making sure we have the right materials and getting the contractor in,” he said.
About $50,000 in Measure S tax dollars will be used to pay for the pool repairs, according to Wier. The Measure S Oversight Committee met on May 11 and decided that it would split $100,000 that had been earmarked for the design and specifications of an updated police department, allocating half of those dollars this fiscal year toward the emergency pool repairs.
The Crescent City Council on Monday approved recommended changes to the 2021-22 budget for how Measure S dollars will be used. These recommendations came from the Measure S Oversight Committee, according to Leaver, and also account for the $50,000 needed to repair the pool. Mayor Pro Tem Isaiah Wright was absent.
The oversight committee recommends allocating $60,000 in Measure S money for next fiscal year — which begins July 1 — toward the police department building design project, Wier said. This would allow a total of $110,000 to pay for the building design, which is estimated to be about 10 percent of the total construction cost of roughly $1 million.
Approved by Crescent City voters in 2020, Measure S is a 1 percent sales tax that is used to fund the fire department, police department, road repairs and to operate the swimming pool. The city began collecting that revenue on April 1, 2021, receiving about $450,000 total for the last quarter of the 2020-21 fiscal year, using $120,000 of those dollars to reopen the swimming pool after it had been closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Leaver.
More than $330,000 in unspent Measure S dollars was rolled into the current fiscal year, she said.
When the 2021-22 fiscal year began, city staff projected receiving about $1.3 million in Measure S revenue. Updated revenue projections received halfway through the fiscal year updated that projection to about $2 million, Leaver said.
In addition to the $50,000 for the emergency repair, the Measure S Oversight Committee also recommended allocating $516,000 to upgrade the pool’s HVAC and dehumidification system, though the project won’t start until the 2022-23 fiscal year.
The delay is also due to supply chain issues, Wier told Councilors. The contractor for the HVAC project, Johnson Controls, won’t have the equipment needed to do the project for about six months. Staff will ask Councilors in June for an authorization for Johnson Controls to proceed with the project, but it probably won’t start until late 2022 or early 2023, Wier said.
The current pool closure, along with the anticipated HVAC project later in the year, prompted Councilor Ray Altman to ask what impact that is having on staffing at the facility.
Wier said that while the pool’s part-time lifeguards will experience a cut in the hours they work, they’re being asked to retain their certification so they won’t have to be re-trained when the facility opens back up.
“We don’t anticipate it’ll be a super long closure,” Wier told Altman. “But it will not be open next week. We’re probably looking at a month if we pull the trigger and get it going with frequent updates (to the community).”
Supply chain issues are causing a delay in several city endeavors, such as its project to rebuild Front Street between G and I. | Image courtesy of Crescent City
Front Street Upgrades
Following Leaver’s Measure S budget update, Councilors turned their attention to the reconstruction of Front Street between G and I streets.
On Monday, Councilors approved a contract with Tidewater Contractors to procure the materials necessary for the project.
They also gave the city manager the authorization to sign contract for additional materials for the project up to $255,688.
According to Olson, this is another project the city is trying to fast track by ordering parts, supplies and materials upfront.
“The broken record you’ve been hearing tonight is there are long lead times on these things,” he told Councilors. “So, while we have secured a bid, some of those (materials) are out 20 weeks. It’s going to be really hard to get this project completed before the winter.”
Olson also asked for $100,000 from the city’s water reserve fund to purchase water lines, valves and hydrants and asked Councilors to give the city manager the authority to purchase additional materials not specified in the Tidewater Contractors contract.
“Tidewater basically went out to various suppliers and did their best to bring a bid together for us of $360,000,” he said. “But that did not include all the materials we requested, so we’ll have to purchase additional materials like street lights and some of those things.”
Crescent City has been working to complete a reconstruction of Front Street from B Street to U.S. 101 for nearly two decades. In 2011, the city completed a master plan that included reducing the road width, constructing an arch near K Street and adding parking for Beachfront Park and the Cultural Center.
The G-I Street portion would include a meandering section near the main entrance to Beachfront Park with landscaping and sidewalks.
In March, after meeting with the Measure S Oversight Committee, the City Council approved using $516,000 in unallocated Measure S dollars, $516,000 in American Rescue Plan Act money and $750,000 from the general fund toward reconstructing Front Street between G and I streets.
The Del Norte Local Transportation Commission in April also agreed to kick in $400,000 toward the $2.2 million Front Street reconstruction project. That $400,000 is a combination of Transportation Development Act dollars for pedestrians and bicycles and Regional Surface Transportation Funding.
On Monday, Wier told Councilors that staff were hoping to have the plans and specifications for the Front Street project before them for approval, but they’re not ready yet.
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