The pool was refilled in advance of the delayed reopening of the pool at Michael J. Tully on Feb. 18 and everything has gone swimmingly in the wake of extensive repairs to the pool’s drainage system and leaking liner.
Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Jon Kaiman reported all is well with the pool this week as he anticipates doing a “walk-through” next week to review the work done by FML Contracting and several subcontractors.
“Everything’s great over there,” Kaiman said. “We’re going to close out the contracts in a week or so,”
Those contracts cost the town between $15 million and $16 million, according to Kaiman, since the pool was first closed due to problems with its filtration system two years ago. Problems with the building’s electrical system and decaying window frames around skylights prompted additional repairs not initially anticipated, which extended the closure to a period of 18 months before the pool was reopened last October.
“There are always things we’re going to look to do,” Kaiman said. “We think the facility turned out great and people are really enjoying it. Most people will come back and there’s so many more people using the facility, it was really well worth the investment.”
Kaiman said his impression that more people were using the facility was based on anecdotal evidence.
The recent refurbishing work started in Jan. 9 and was supposed to be completed on Jan. 25, but was ultimately extended until Feb. 18. The contractors replaced some drains, welded others and replaced the pool’s liner, which had been leaking, Kaiman said. The work was done at the contractor’s cost, under the terms of the original contract.
The town is inviting swimming teams from local schools, such as Notre Dame in New Hyde Park, to use the pool as they had been in prior years.
“People have raised some questions about whether teams can still use it. They can,” Kaiman said.
Kaiman noted that the pool never had swimming lanes that conformed to the specifications of swimming meets, and the length of the lanes has not changed.
A few people have complained about the current from the slide on the children’s end of the pool adverse affecting people trying to use the lanes in the deeper end to swim laps. But Kaiman said most people seem unconcerned about that effect from the water slide, which is turned on every day at 3 p.m.
“We’ve spoken to seniors who use the pool when the water is on, and very few have complained,” Kaiman said. “Most people think it doesn’t affect them at all.”
People who subscribed to the pool for the quarter staring in January will received extensions for the permits they purchased, he said. And now the town is seeking to make the recreation center a destination for Town of North Hempstead residents of all ages.
