City Commission Gets Update On Anderson-Dean Pool

Robert Moore
Herald Staff
rmoore@harrodsburgherald.com

The Harrodsburg City Commission received an update on the pool at Anderson-Dean Community Park. The park shut it down June 6 after learning the pool had lost a million gallons of water in its first week. The expenses to run the park are split evenly between the county and city. Stephen Ransdell Jr., the assistant manager at the park, briefed the commissioners at their regular meeting on Monday, June 26.

“We’ve had pretty significant damage to our pool,” Ransdell said. He said park officials believe the lost water flows into a basin just below the pool that runs to a spring about 1.6 miles to the west.

“The water potentially went into that,” Ransdell said. He said efforts to locate the leak were hindered in part because the blueprints do not accurately reflect what the contractors built more than 20 years ago.

“We chased our tails for three or four days,” Ransdell said.

Commissioner Charlie Mattingly asked about the original contractor. Ransdell said he doesn’t know if the contractor is still in business. No one knew what action, if any, the park could take legally.

The pool has settled over the years. He said the deep end sits lower than the rest of the pool and the gutter system has shifted. They have also found significant corrosion. Ransdell said it was uncertain if the original contractors coated the steel supports to prevent rust. Even if they did, the coating only lasts up to seven years, he said.

Last year park officials had to replace concrete pads on the deep end because of settling.

“There have been leaks in the past which weren’t really fixed,” Ransdell said. He said they were in the process of assembling a bid, but it could cost as much as $700,000 and take up to seven months to repair the issues.

When the story first went public last week, commenters asked if would be cheaper to build a new pool. Ransdell said estimates for a new pool were around $10 million. Even though the repairs will be expensive, once finished “basically it will be a brand new pool,” Ransdell said. He said it could last another 22 years if done correctly.

During the one week the pool was open, officials say it drew up to 400 people a day. They said they want the aquatics center to be open by Memorial Day next year. The commissioners pledged to help any way they could, but took no official action Monday.

While the pool at Anderson-Dean is closed, the free splash pad at Young’s Park in Harrodsburg (530 Linden Avenue) is open daily from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

In other business, the Harrodsburg City Commission received an end of the year report from Daarik Gray, executive director of the Harrodsburg-Mercer County Tourist Commission.