The future of the Winchester Municipal Pool is uncertain after city officials learned of several costly repairs needed before the pool can reopen next summer.
River County News reports the pool operated this year with an aging pump that should have been replaced before the season.
Benton Engineering’s Greg Hillis told the Winchester City Council at a special meeting on September 9th that replacing the pump with a more efficient model will cost about ten-thousand dollars. The city must also obtain an Illinois Department of Public Health permit because the replacement pump will be a different model.
Hillis also told the council that the pool’s main drains do not meet updated requirements. The drains, installed in 2011 after a full renovation, are connected directly to the pool pump and fall short of current requirements by roughly one-and-a-half to two inches.
Replacing the drains is expected to cost between ten- and twelve-thousand dollars. Benton Engineering will charge another five-thousand dollars to handle the permitting process, which Hillis said currently has a turnaround time of about 21 weeks.
The city council unanimously approved spending five-thousand dollars to begin that permitting process.
The pool also continues to operate at a financial loss. Mayor Rex McIntire said the pool lost more than 35-thousand dollars this year, following an average loss of about 32-thousand dollars the previous year.
Despite those losses, council members expressed support for keeping the pool open.
One possible funding option discussed at the meeting is a five-dollar monthly infrastructure fee on city utility bills. With approximately 800 city utility customers, the fee could generate about 40-thousand dollars annually.
No action was taken on the proposed fee because it was not on the meeting agenda. The proposed fee could come before the Winchester City Council at its October 7th meeting.