Uh Oh! Pool Problems?

We've heard a number of reports from community residents indicating the following concerns related to the new high school pool:

1. Not Certified. Although we've had "the keys" now for 5 months, the pool still lacks a Health Department certification. This means no one can swim in it. That means no revenues from community swim. It also means paying for pool use time for our swim teams until this gets resolved. How embarrassing is it for us to be buying pool time when we've shouted fromn the highest mountain top that we have a brand new pool?
2. The roof leaks! It was reported that a large gathering of "pool people" (not to be confused with "pod people") happened to be at the pool this past Thursday night during the rain event and witnessed water flowing in.
3. Vent grillwork is already rusting. Nice...if it's rusting the metal, care to guess what's going on in side lungs?
4. The wrong diving boards. The two diving boards, at a cost of $500 each, are "recreational" type, rather than "competition" grade. Word on the street is that it has been known since the day they were delivered and sitting around in the bottom of the pool during construction, that they were the wrong boards. People have expressed this to administrators Phil Frei and Tim Brooks, whose answer is that we have to eat the cost!
5. The wrong pool lane dividers. The pool lane dividers do not meet WIAA standards, which means that, without replacing them, we cannot hold WIAA sanctioned competitions. There goes all those revenues and spectators fees we banked on . Not to mention the cost of adding the hallways needed to handle these crowds.
6. Wasted chemicals? Everyone knows that a pool needs chemicals to maintain pH balance and chlorine levels. What some may not know is that these chemicals have a very finite shelf life because of their reactivity. We've now heard too many reports to think that there isn't something to a rumor that someone purchased far too large a quantity of chemicals and now a large quantity must be disposed. We've heard figures ranging up to $1,000 worth of chemicals having to be trashed..

A call placed to the district office to confirm these reports and to obtain comment was not returned. Seriously...does anyone think the district will ever come clean with their dirty laundry?

What community members are saying

"If you have a specification, shouldn't the work be done to specification? Shouldn't someone be following up on that? Especially for what we paid for the specifications."

"Someone screwed up, so tell them to fix it."

"I know [the diving boards cost] is only $1,000, but [sic] thats all the more reason someone else should be fixing it."

"Shouldn't [District hired Construction Manager] Hoffman be looking at this and getting it fixed, since he is paid to do this stuff?" SP-EYE: One would think that's why we pay them $7,300 per month.

"I am sure the pool roof leaks might be higher priority, but these guys need to stop looking at the construction dollars as a tub of free money to use."

We don't think we can say it any better than those who let us know. We spent $100M total for our new construction. Nearly $4M alone for the pool. We pay our administrators -- who are currently seeking a salary increase of up to 2.5% we hear--- $80,000-to $120,000 per year. We expect better form them. We'll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that they would NEVER suggest that the district --and taxpayers-- should simply "eat the cost" of mistakes made by contractors. But, at the same time, to people that make $100K, $1,000 is pocket change. They forget --or are oblivious to the fact -- that $1,000 could feed a small family for several weeks to a month.