Aquatic center construction going swimmingly
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About 70 percent of the inside work is completed at Mission Valley Aquatic’s building site, project director Tana Seeley said last week.
With nice weather, workers can get rolling on the exterior of the building. Metal siding arrived last week, and windows should arrive soon. The outside block work was being completed on April 5.
Swanke Construction superintendent Bob Hilley said workers would start installing the metal siding so the MVA building will no longer be its sunny yellow color. The siding consists of horizontal corrugated metal and hardi-panels, which look like stucco. The painters need to get the metal on the ceiling painted before the pool builders arrive, or else it will be too high for them to reach, Hilley explained.
“The pool builders, another piece of the project ... should be here by May 1,” Seeley added.
It’s just level ground in the building now, and once pool excavation begins it will take about four months. All the dirt from the pool will be hauled out the east door.
Plans call for the regular pool to go from 4 feet in the shallow end to 12 feet in the deep end, will be equipped with eight lanes, each 25 yards long. Water temperature will be 82 degrees. MVA decided to go ahead with a therapy pool, which will be 18 feet by 23 feet at a toasty 92 degrees, and the depth will go from 3 feet to 5 1/2 feet.
“Both pools will have handicapped chair lifts and nice stairs,” Seeley explained.
Not only will construction workers be busy, she said, but MVA fundraising kicks into high gear this spring and summer since funds are tight for the project. “We have acquired some private loans to carry us through, ... but construction is going faster than the fundraising,” Seeley said.
That’s why a recent $100,000 Polson Rotary pledge was such a welcome shot in the arm for MVA.
“It feels good to receive their support,” Seeley said, adding that she met with the club, and members are excited and committed to their goal.
To stimulate a flow of funds, MVA will hold a benefit dinner at Ricciardi’s on April 29, an ‘80s dance party in June, “hard hat” tours of the MVA site on June 22, the annual Water Daze swim on Aug. 4 with the addition of tours of the MVA building from 6 to 8 p.m. MVA also will host the Polson Chamber of Commerce SPLASH on Sept. 20 in the new building’s lobby and a soup bowl fundraiser in November.
The soup bowl function will include an auction with “everything from the kitchen sink to a lot in the Skyline subdivision,” Seeley explained.
With the project completion in sight, Seeley also has begun to look at staffing the new facility. She and several other people traveled to Wallace, Idaho, for training April 6-8. Four folks, Seeley included, will earn certification as lifeguard trainers, and the others will earn lifeguard certifications. Soon MVA will start advertising for an aquatic director, a position Seeley would like to fill by July 1.
November’s tax bills for local residents contained the levy amount for MVA, and many people had a question about that.
The levy states that no funds shall be collected until construction begins, and the monies can only be used for operation and maintenance, not construction. So start-up costs, such as hiring an aquatic director as well as more mundane items such as janitorial supplies, trashcans, etc., will be funded with levy money.
Another issue for many community members is whether local workers have been hired for the project. Hu Beaver, president of the MVA board, and Seeley worked hard to keep local people in the loop.
“A lot of the pieces were too big for people around here, the pool builders being one,” Seeley said.
Local business Whealon Construction did the concrete work, Treasure State poured the concrete; Mission Valley Security is doing the sound and the security; and West Shore Cabinets also did some work on the project. Plus, Seeley added, a lot of the subcontractors were hiring local workers.
MVA is looking at a September finish date for the center, and then aquatic activities will be available this winter.
