Bids To Repair Anderson-Dean Pool To Be Opened Tuesday, Sept. 26

Robert Moore
Herald Staff
rmoore@harrodsburgherald.com

The future of the pool at Anderson-Dean Community Park will soon be less murky. Bids to repair the pool, which was only open one week this year, will be opened at the Mercer County Fiscal Court after their regular meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 26.

Stephen Ransdell Jr., assistant manager at the park, gave an update on the pool to the Harrodsburg City Commission Monday and to the fiscal court at their regular meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 12.

Anderson-Dean was forced to shut down the aquatics center in June after learning the pool had lost a million gallons of water in its first week. Park officials believe the lost water flowed into a basin just below the pool that runs to a spring about 1.6 miles to the west. 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.

Ransdell said they held a prebid meeting last week. He said there are five bidders including one from San Diego, Florida, New York and Kentucky. One of the bidders is Codell Construction Company of Winchester, who were one of the original contractors to build the aquatics center, but not the pool. The pool, Ransdell said, was built by a company called Oasis, which built several pools in Kentucky, including in Florence, before going out of business.

“Our pool was never built correctly,” Ransdell said. ” Prints were not followed.”

He said the steel supports were never properly coated, and the pool was never plumbed correctly. To repair the pool, contractors will have to remove the concrete pads to expose the steel supports, which will have to be sandblasted and properly coated. In some cases, the steel will have to be completely replaced he said, as will the pipes, some of which are the wrong size. Ransdell said the pump house needs to be completely redone.

“You’d almost have a new pool,” he said.

Ransdell could not give an estimate on how much it would all cost but said he expected the price of just clearing away the old concrete would cost as much as $100,000.

“It’s been a mess,” he said. “We’ll have some hard decisions to make.”

Since the pool was closed, officials have contended their goal is have it open next year for the Memorial Day weekend. Ransdell said a new pool could cost up to $7 million. The park’s board of directors will make the final decision, based on input from the city commission and fiscal court.

Ransdell said tear down of the barn at Anderson-Dean, which was damaged by heavy winds in March, could begin as early as this week. He said park officials are still working with insurance on replacing the barn.

The magistrates learned construction began last week on McAfee Fire Station 12. The roof of the fire station was ripped off by heavy winds back in March. Chief Ric Maxfield of the Mercer County Fire Protection District said the replacement structure could be completed within six months.

“We’re really excited abut that,” Maxfield told the fiscal court.

The fiscal court also voted to begin advertising for bids to replace the road department buildings. All three buildings have to come down because the middle one is damaged but all three are tied together. Officials hope to open the bids Friday, Oct. 13.

The magistrates also voted to advertise for bids to replace the animal shelter building. The county is requesting two bids so officials can compare costs if they share space with Critters Without Litters or not. They also hope to open bids on Oct. 13 and vote at following fiscal court meeting.