By MICHAEL STRAND

Salina Journal

By the middle of last week, when a Missouri company hired to get Salina's municipal swimming pool in Kenwood Park ready for summer hadn't yet shown up, it came time to start thinking about a Plan B.

"We started looking at the calendar, and it really came to a head Thursday or Friday -- they were supposed to be done by the 15th," said recreation superintendent Chris Curtis.

The company that submitted the low bid, Quality Pools of Harrisonville, Mo., had proven difficult to get hold of or to pin down on when it would start work, Curtis said.

So, park officials decided to call on the company that had submitted the second-lowest bid, Westport Pools of Maryland Heights, Mo. Westport had bid $40,643, nearly $15,000 more than Quality Pools' bid of $25,900.

But, the company was able to start work immediately and had a crew in Salina working Monday, Curtis said.

"The timing worked out well for them, and they had just finished a job and had a crew available," he said.

The delays have pushed back the scheduled opening of the pool by a week, from Saturday to May 31, and Curtis said he expects that new opening date to be met.

Workers are filling expansion joints and then will repaint the pool, though it takes a few days for the paint to cure before the pool can be filled.

"Barring bad weather, we should be OK," he said.

The delay will not affect any swimming lesson schedules, or other pool programs.

Curtis said he did not anticipate any problems staffing the pool. In late July 2007, pool manager Suzanne Crawford and nine other pool employees resigned amid a controversy about the condition of the pool.

Some amount of turnover is common for the pool, Curtis said, and "with the issues last year, we had a bigger need. A lot of people at the end of the season are coming back, and the manager at the end of last year will be back."

Talk of replacing the pool has been around for years. In 2000, voters rejected a quarter-cent sales tax to pay for a $5.5 million pool southwest of the Bicentennial Center.

Earlier this year, a group organized by the Salina Area Chamber of Commerce to come up with a long-range plan for Kenwood Park included a new pool in its plans.

The city of Salina has selected three companies as finalists to develop a plan for a new municipal pool. A new pool plan should be prepared in time to propose a project to voters in the November election and to have a new swim facility up and running by the summer of 2010, according to city officials.

n Reporter Mike Strand can be reached at 822-1418 or by e-mail at mstrand@salina.com.

The company that submitted the low bid, Quality Pools of Harrisonville, Mo., had proven difficult to get hold of or to pin down on when it would start work, Curtis said.

So, park officials decided to call on the company that had submitted the second-lowest bid, Westport Pools of Maryland Heights, Mo. Westport had bid $40,643, nearly $15,000 more than Quality Pools' bid of $25,900.

But, the company was able to start work immediately and had a crew in Salina working Monday, Curtis said.

"The timing worked out well for them, and they had just finished a job and had a crew available," he said.

The delays have pushed back the scheduled opening of the pool by a week, from Saturday to May 31, and Curtis said he expects that new opening date to be met.

Workers are filling expansion joints and then will repaint the pool, though it takes a few days for the paint to cure before the pool can be filled.

"Barring bad weather, we should be OK," he said.

The delay will not affect any swimming lesson schedules, or other pool programs.

Curtis said he did not anticipate any problems staffing the pool. In late July 2007, pool manager Suzanne Crawford and nine other pool employees resigned amid a controversy about the condition of the pool.

Some amount of turnover is common for the pool, Curtis said, and "with the issues last year, we had a bigger need. A lot of people at the end of the season are coming back, and the manager at the end of last year will be back."

Talk of replacing the pool has been around for years. In 2000, voters rejected a quarter-cent sales tax to pay for a $5.5 million pool southwest of the Bicentennial Center.

Earlier this year, a group organized by the Salina Area Chamber of Commerce to come up with a long-range plan for Kenwood Park included a new pool in its plans.

The city of Salina has selected three companies as finalists to develop a plan for a new municipal pool. A new pool plan should be prepared in time to propose a project to voters in the November election and to have a new swim facility up and running by the summer of 2010, according to city officials.

n Reporter Mike Strand can be reached at 822-1418 or by e-mail at mstrand@salina.com.