Mild weather prompts steady progress on project
By Barb Pert Templeton
Having a heated, walk-in pool, complete with a splash pad for kids and a deep end for older swimmers should be a reality in Algonac next spring.
The new pool project, currently under construction at Lion’s Field, is moving along swiftly thanks to some unseasonably warm weather.
A recent city council meeting on Nov. 19 had officials approving the first payment to the contractor, Robert Clancy Excavating in the amount of $175,977. Clancy’s bid for the pool project, which was $2,924,301, was approved by the council in August.
This first payment was for the billing period of August 26 to Oct. 1. In a memo to the city council City Manager Denice Gerstenberg wrote that Architect George J. Hartman reviewed the payment application for accuracy of accounting and construction completion percentages.
A groundbreaking ceremony for the new Algonac Community Pool at Lion’s Field was hosted on Sept. 9, 2024.
After approving the first pool payment at the recent meeting Councilman Michael Bembas asked Gerstenberg since the weather has been good giving the pool contractors the ability to work on it more, might the pool be done ahead of schedule?
“I don’t want to promise anything, best case scenario was Memorial Day and worst-case scenario was July,” Gerstenberg said. “It’s too early to tell it’s only November.”
Mayor Rocky Gillis said he finds it fun to drive-by the pool project and see the progress.
“It’s going to be exciting times here,” he added.
A long road to completion
When the old Algonac city pool at the Lions Field closed in 2020 due to leaking water and safety concerns deciding what to do about the popular city venue, that first opened in 1957, certainly became a topic of interest.
Work on the new city pool at Lions Field is moving right along because the weather has been unseasonably mild this November.
In 2021 the city formed a pool committee and soon hired an architect to design a new pool and the estimated cost at that time was $1.7 million. After seeking bids in 2022, the costs had soared and the city quickly realized they’d need a larger funding source to make the pool a reality.
Then this past July, State Senator Kevin Hertel came through with $1 million dollars from the state budget and the project moved forward. Additional grants, one for $300,000 from the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund and another $400,000 grant from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation Revitalization and Placemaking was also awarded to the city.
The old pool will be taken out and replaced with a new one and this is a sketch of the plans for it.
In August officials reviewed two bids received for the project, one from Robert Clancy Contracting and one from Wolverine Building Group.
Once Clancy was awarded the contract work began on the pool site which includes taking apart and disposing of the old model to make way for the new one.
Over the years Councilman Bembas has been a constant supporter and cheerleader, insisting the city needed to rebuild and reopen the longtime city landmark that has been so important to the community.
“This pool means so much to me for various reasons,” Bembas previously stated. “The pool is a tradition in Algonac, we’ve had one since the 1950s and now we have one again and I think it’s great because if it saves one life by teaching one child how to swim it’s well worth the money and again it adds to our community.”
