LAKEPORT, Calif. – The effort to open the Westshore Pool so the Channels Cats and high school swim teams can begin their competitive season has hit a major roadblock in the form of a state agency's recently rediscovered letter that raises issues about the pool's safety and compliance with federal accessibility law.
That was the news the Lakeport City Council received on Tuesday night as part of an update on a pool pump it had agreed to replace.
The meeting Tuesday night began with Lakeport Police Chief Brad Rasmussen asking for a moment of silence in memory of Ronnie Dekeyser III, the 11-year-old boy who Rasmussen had made an honorary Lakeport Police officer last October. Ronnie died on Monday afternoon after a long battle with an inoperable brain tumor.
The council then switched the order of the agenda around to take up the Westshore Pool discussion first, with members of the Lakeport Unified School District Board and the Channel Cats swim team in attendance.
City Manager Margaret Silveira said the matter was being brought back to the council for reasons including the fact that the pool's pump – which in November the council had agreed to replace – was going to cost more that previously anticipated.
However, the more serious issue necessitating followup with the council was the Lakeport Unified School District's discovery in its files of a nearly 11-year-old letter from the Division of the State Architect.
That letter – which raised issues with the pool's condition and accessibility under the Americans with Disabilities Act – has resulted in an about-face regarding the district's willingness to open the pool.
Lakeport Unified owns the pool and entered into a 2004 contract with the city of Lakeport to operate the facility. Several years ago, due to budget cuts, the school district stopped contributing to the pool's costs, which the city has continued to pay for in order to keep the pool open.
The pool underwent a renovation that included resurfacing in 2007, with the $370,000 in improvements covered by a combination of a $169,000 state grant and city general fund monies, according to city officials.
Last fall, the city had approached the district about once again contributing monetarily to the pool's upkeep.
At its Dec. 12 meeting, the Lakeport Unified School District Board discussed the costs to run the pool. Dave Norris, the school district's facilities director, said at the time that more improvements were needed and that a “significant amount” of money would be required to maintain the pool.
During that December meeting the district board indicated support for finding a way to get the pool open by February in order for the Channel Cats swim team to begin its season.
Silveira told the council Tuesday that the school district called a special meeting Jan. 16, with school and city officials, and Channel Cats representatives on hand to discuss the situation. At that point, the school reported that, due to liability concerns, it was not moving forward with opening the pool.
The city has since looked at taking on the liability, but Silveira said that avenue didn't work.
She nonetheless urged the council to move forward with buying the new pool pump to help with upkeep and prevent damage. “Our hope is to find a solution.”
Public Works Director Mark Brannigan said that when he took the pool pump issue to the council in November he had estimated it would cost between $5,000 and $10,000. The bid the city received came back at $12,000, but he was able to negotiate it down to just over $9,500 for the pool pump, its motor and a controller, all of which can be installed within three weeks.
Turning back to the matter of the letter from the state, Mayor Pro Tem Martin Scheel asked Silveira, “Have we received this letter before?”
“This was the first time I was made aware of it,” she said, noting it was not in the city's pool files. At the Jan. 16 meeting, she was told that Norris had only seen it for the first time recently.
Lakeport Unified Superintendent Erin Smith-Hagberg told the council that she, also, had only seen the letter for the first time after she found it in school district files during the holiday break. She sent a copy to Silveira a few days ago.
Councilwoman Stacey Mattina asked Smith-Hagberg if the district had contacted the Division of the State Architect about the letter. Smith-Hagberg said yes, noting the person who wrote the letter has been moved to another job. They've not yet been able to speak to that person's successor.
“We're moving forward as quickly as we can,” Smith-Hagberg said.
Mattina said the city wanted to go ahead and open the pool. “Will that work for you?”
“That's a direction we were moving,” said Smith-Hagberg, explaining that the district also had hired a pool consultant to look at upgrades the facility needed.
She told the council that the district can't advise that the pool be opened until the safety concerns raised by the Division of State Architects and the district's pool consultant are addressed.
“What has to be fixed?” asked Councilman Tom Engstrom.
Smith-Hagberg did not offer a specific list, instead giving an estimate that about $34,000 in repairs and upgrades were needed to address priority items.
In the letter from the state, “The immediate concern is the structure,” Smith-Hagberg said.
Scheel pointed out the city already is shouldering liability for the pool. “We'd like to get the pool open, and we'd like your blessing.”
Smith-Hagberg said the Division of the State Architect has to answer that, not the Lakeport Unified board, adding the district was waiting for a call back from the agency.
Scheel asked if the district had any discussions with the Division of the State Architect until now. Smith-Hagberg said no.
In a recent contact with the agency, she said Lakeport Unified was asked if it had followed through with making upgrades, and was informed that it needed to complete that process.
“They advised us that it not be opened,” Smith-Hagberg said of the pool.
Councilman Marc Spillman asked if the district would help cover the costs for upgrading the pool if the city moved forward with paying for the new pump.
“I can't answer that,” Smith-Hagberg said.
She noted during the discussion, “I think we all share the same interests. We want the community to use the pool,” but she added that she believed they all shared the same interest in keeping the community safe.
Silveira said she knows that the Division of the State Architect can be difficult to work with, and she was exploring whether the city can include the needed ADA upgrades to the pool as part of a city ADA transition plan.
Governments are allowed to have the plans, which show how needed improvements are accomplished over time. Upgrades are not required of government facilities all at once, she said.
Silveira said she has asked if the state will accept the city's transition plan or if the changes need to be made immediately, and she doesn't have an answer to that yet. If the transition plan is acceptable, she said it could solve a lot of immediate issues with the pool.
Jennifer Hanson of the Channel Cats told the council she has been in a leadership position with the swim team for 11 years and they've never had a better relationship with the city and council than they now have, and she thanked them for their support.
After the Jan. 16 meeting, Hanson said it was clear how the district felt about opening the pool, so the swim team reached out to the Quail Run fitness club, which has a pool, to find a facility for swimmers to train.
The high school swimmers need to get started immediately, Hanson said, noting she has 45 of them wanting to swim.
About an hour before the council meeting, Hanson met with Quail Run, which agreed to allow the high school swimmers to use its pools.
However, she added, “They are not interested in having us there in the summer.”
She said the facility isn't good for training the little children. “We train 150 kids every summer in that pool,” Hanson said of the Westshore Pool.
She said the high school swim team starts competing Feb. 3. They won't be able to have home meets now because the Quail Run pools don't meet the requirements. “That's logistically going to be hard.”
Agustin Merodio – the swimming coach for the Channel Cats, as well as for the swim teams at Kelseyville and Clear Lake High schools – told the council it would be very expensive to get a new pool, and he believed it made better sense to fix the one they have.
He said he gets contacts from college swim coaches every day looking for collegiate swimmers, and 330,000 children are swimming every year in the United States. Merodio didn't want to see the Westshore Pool go away.
“It's a sad day for Lakeport,” said Engstrom.
While not pointing fingers, Engstrom noted that the district got the letter from the state in 2003 and entered into the contract with the city for running the pool in 2004.
“So here we are, 10 years later, two weeks away from the season starting, and we can't open the pool until the school gives their blessing, right?” he asked.
Engstrom said he was in favor of doing everything needed to get the pool open, but he didn't see the pool being open by Feb. 3. If the pump wasn't put in, he believed they would incur further expense.
Engstrom made the motion to approve proceeding with the pump purchase, with Mattina seconding and the council voting unanimously to support it. The vote got a round of applause from the Channel Cats.
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