City pool ‘ahead of schedule,’ but …

For those eagerly awaiting the completion of the Stanley H. Collins Aquatics Center, there’s good news and bad news.

The good news is that the aquatics center “is ahead of schedule,” but as Sallisaw City Manager Brian Heverly told city commissioners last week, “it will not be done by May.”

But even forecasting a July completion date for the pool, Heverly says it’s a long shot that there’ll be any swimming this summer.

“It’s coming along pretty good,” Keith Miller, the city’s building development director, said in an update of the project. “We’re excited about that. The buildings are getting a lot closer [to completion].”

But, he said, “there’s a lot of things over there moving that you really don’t see. They’re installing cabinets, getting ready to do painting, staining, things of that nature that we’re going to have inside as part of the amenities for the concession stand. They should be getting ready to primer and seal the blocks so it’ll be ready to paint those walls, get that moving a little bit further along.

“They have started laying some of the groundwork for the splash pad, so it’s going to start making the complex look bigger. Once the splash pad starts, it’ll take on a whole different appearance,” Miller said.

The aquatics center is being constructed along with tying in the concessions stand and restrooms with Perry F. Lattimore Stadium as amenities for sporting events which occur apart from use of the pool.

“Sallisaw Public Schools has started their half of the project, so it’s going to make the project even different. They have decided to concrete the area that was going to be remaining as grass. Mr. [Steve] Barrett is making some changes I think are going to be very positive. It’s not only going to help the school, but it will also help this complex. It’ll give us a large area for benches and tables for people to sit to enjoy part of the day. It’s going to be a great project once it’s done. We really look forward to it,” Miller said.

Construction is continuing at the Stanley H. Collins Aquatics Center as the city pool begins to take shape. Buildings that will house a concession stand and restrooms shared by the pool and the adjacent football stadium are also nearing completion. LYNN ADAMS | TIMES

But addressed the pragmatic downside of the project.

“I’ll jump on the grenade,” the city manager said. “It will not be done by May. We are looking at Fourth of July, hopefully, middle of July probably. They have, by contract, until August to complete it. Everything is ahead of schedule, but ahead of schedule means middle of July.

“So, with that as a foundation,” Heverly continued, “we usually have seasonal employees that start at the end of May as soon as school lets out, because we have students as lifeguards. Those lifeguards in a normal year would currently be going through training and getting their certification and starting to work the end of May. Those kids, if they are choosing to be lifeguards this year, are doing that, just not for us. So we’re missing the ability to have those folks locked in and start getting paid as soon as school lets out.

“I say that to say, we anticipate having a pool open, but nobody will be certified to work in it. So we’re exploring our options for contracted or rent-a-lifeguard services. We’re trying to find folks we can contract with to come in and provide lifeguard services for at least the weekends, couple of days a week, that kind of thing. But we will not have normal hours this year,” Heverly said.

“Now, having said that, the splash pad will be open. The splash pad does not require lifeguards. The splash pad will be open. We hope to have that open well into September, different from last year, different from the pool hours. But the [aquatics center] is not going to be open by Memorial Day. It will not be open for normal hours this summer,” Heverly said.

Miller then explained some of the challenges involved in constructing the pool.

“The only piece of equipment that I know we have a delay on is the gutter system. That is such a large piece of the swimming pool, that it’s just taking awhile for the manufacturing of it. It’s going to surround the entire pool. Still yet at that, it’s only a week behind at this point, which is not actually hurting the project at all,” Miller said.

Ward 1 Commissioner Kenny Moody is among those eager for the pool to open, and said the center will “be really cool. Not just the pool — the pool’s going to be awesome, too — but what it’s going to add to the football season, the experience that you have over there with the sports complex. It’s pretty cool.”

Miller added the new facilities are “leagues above what they used to have. It’s something for the community to be truly proud of.”

In addition, the concession stand area will be air conditioned — “It’s going to be nice,” Moody said — Mayor Ernie Martens said the existing restrooms beneath the west bleachers will be gutted and remodeled.

In other construction news reported at the city commissioners’ meeting:

• Cherokee Nation subdivision is winding down. Water meters and electric meters are being installed. Sewer connections are being finalized. “They are expecting to be able to try to move people in that subdivision in June. They haven’t said if that’s the single- family dwellings or the duplexes, but you will see that start to populate at that point,” Miller said.

• The city has been notified about “some new construction that may be coming in.” One is a Mercy Clinic, which will be located next to Pizza Hut on Ruth Avenue.

• Another set of plans that has just been finalized is for an undisclosed business in Eastgate Shopping Center.